The writing process: how to start and actually finish

If I were to tell you there’s one way to write and finish a book that will work for every single person, I’d be lying. That’s because everybody is different: we live different lives and have different personalities. What works for one person may not work for the other.

“What are you talking about? What do you mean?“

Well, there’s Stephen King who finishes 3 books in 6 months. Haruki Murakami wakes up at 4am, works for 5 to 6 hours, runs and swims as a form of exercise, and sleeps at 9pm; keeping to that routine for 6 months to a year. Susan Sontag didn’t take calls in the morning and wrote in her notebook every day. WH Auden’s mind was the sharpest from 7am to 11:30 am. E.B. White never listened to music while writing yet could write in a living room without being distracted by the members of his household. Maya Angelou used to write at a hotel room from around 7am to 2:30pm, with a dictionary, a Bible, a deck of cards, and a bottle of sherry in the room. Anthony Trollope had set himself to write 250 words every quarter of each hour. Leslie Swartz thought about his book “How I lost my mother” for 9 years and wrote it in a period of 5 weeks.

I can’t tell you to follow any of the routines of these well-known authors. Each routine is different, and their routine works/ worked for them. You may not be a full-time writer either. Perhaps you’re a mother, someone with a 9-5 job, someone with commitments. What I can tell you are things to keep in mind and some tips you can incorporate into your daily life in order to start and finish the book you are currently working on or want to write.

Here are a few things to keep in mind to help you get started and actually finish your first draft:

• Write a synopsis of your book – this helps you to conclude on the outline/ skeleton of your book: what it’s about, what the focus is. It helps you as the writer with direction.

• Answer these questions: What am I writing? Why am I writing it? Who am I writing it for? These questions, together with the synopsis, will serve as a driving force behind completing your book project. They give your book a purpose.

• Decide on what style of story telling you will use. This helps you to know how your book will be written and structured. Again, it gives you direction as the writer.

• Write for at least 20 minutes every day. Wake up earlier, find the 20 minutes somewhere during the course of your day – maybe after coming back from work or before going to bed. If you’re going to wait for free time to start writing, you might wait forever. The best thing to do is to fit writing into your daily schedule, that’s if you truly want to get started and actually get done. It has to be done. If you skip a day, that’s not too much of a train smash – life happens. But you have to do it.

• If not yet, be an avid reader. This may help you see how other writers write, not necessarily to mimic their writing – the reader must still hear YOUR voice, but to have an idea of how a good book is written in general. If you’re still concerned about your writing, not to worry. There are different types of editing that are implemented by editors (see the blogpost: Editing: the different types and their role in the quality of your final manuscript).  

One more tip, advise really:

• Take your time. Don’t rush yourself, but that doesn’t mean stop completely either. Keep going until you have no more words to write for that book.

If you want a more comprehensive guide, particularly for your book project, to guide you throughout the whole process of writing your first draft, Mpilo Publishing does provide 1-hour online consultations. You can make a booking by emailing admin@mpilopublishing.co.za.

Blogger:

Simthandile Mhlambiso – Founder and Managing Director of Mpilo Publishing (Pty) Ltd; Member of Professional Editors ‘ Guild (PEG), Branch Secretary of PEG Committee – Western Cape.