Since this is my 100th
post on this blog, I think it makes sense for me to take a step back from the
minutiae of independent publishing and look at my overall process from
beginning to end. Hopefully, you'll find something here to steal for your own
work, or at least look at your creative process a different way.
Like everything else
I've done, this process isn't original. I've borrowed some elements from my
days working at a Japanese animation studio and some ideas came from watching
the creative process unfold when I worked at Marvel Comics. The workflow I use
could be valid for creating all types of commercial entertainment, but I don't
have enough experience to confirm that.
The Four Stages
Novel development at Nightlife Publishing has
four phases: pre-production, production, post-production and launch. I'll try to describe each one in order and
link to other relevant articles that I have posted.
Stage 1: Pre-Production (The Dreaming Stage)
This is where we think up stories. We gather ideas, follow inspiration and
collect research for our half dreamed masterpiece. For those of us who plot,
this is where the building blocks of the story are laid out. For those of us
who don't plot, the writing might begin at the first spark of an idea. All of
us see a work of art taking shape in the fog of our imagination.
Related articles:
Stage 2: Production (The Sweat Stage)
This is where the fantasy of ideas meets the
reality of writing. Here, we wrestle with
setting, characters, pace, plot, conflict, dialogue, language and the gap
between expectations and results. Some of us produce a steady word count every
day in a dedicated writing space. Others squeeze chapters out on our smartphones
during our morning commute. This is the first major obstacle for a novel.
Anyone can get an idea for a story. Fewer people have the stamina and willpower
to forge an idea into a manuscript.
Related articles:
Stage 3: Post-Production (The Blood Stage)
The rough shaped gem we've mined from the depths of our subconscious needs to be
honed before it will be a jewel that sits alongside other best-sellers. Self-editing, beta testing, professional
editing, formatting and other quality control measures give our books a
professional polish.
This can be a painful stage
for two reasons. First, many of our cherished dialogue, characters and concepts
might not survive this stage. Second, this is where the book transforms from a
low cost creative expression to a project that costs money.
(Ouch. That's why I
refer to it as the blood phase.)
Related articles:
Stage 4: Launch (The Tears Stage)
At a certain point, our creation needs to leave the protective nest of our
computer and rise or fall as a published work. We can help it along with
marketing, advertising and social media, but at some point your readers will be alone with your work to measure it
on its own merits.
This stage can produce
two types of tears. You might experience tears of joy when you get good reviews,
positive feedback, sales, fame, fortune and immortality. You might simply cry tears
of pain because people reject your book, regardless of how much work you put
into it. In my experience, both types of tears come with every book.
Related articles:
Manipulating the Process
The main reason I
created a process for publishing my work
is to improve efficiency. Each stage of the process requires a different
level of time, energy and money. By spreading my work out across each stage, I
can increase my library of titles without using up any one resource.
For instance, I
currently have one novel that was recently released (launch stage), one novel
that is going out to beta readers this week (post production), one that I'm 20%
done with the first manuscript (production) and three books that are in various
stage of development (pre-production). When time and circumstances permit, I
flow back and forth from one project to another. Everything works out, as long
as I'm always doing something but not trying to do everything at once.
Stealing a Good Idea
This process won't work
for everyone. Some people won't have the time. Others might feel it is too
industrial and counter to the way their creativity works. There's no problem
with that. I put together something that works for me. If you'd like to steal it,
be my guest. If not, I still make the same amount of money from posting this (i.e.
nothing).
If you'd like to share
your own publishing process, I'd like to hear it. I'm not above stealing a good
idea.
Have fun.
G
