The Writing Process

This week, I have an update on Book 3 (working title: Bones of the Dragon) as well as insight into my writing process, which seems to change with every book I write!

(Note: If you haven’t yet liked my new Facebook Author’s page, please do so at facebook.com/JayDPearson/ )

Three books, three different writing approaches. The initial idea for Book 1 came in 2003 while in Whistler. Each time I tried writing the story, however, it was like the tide rushing in over the sand: I’d get a little further with each wave, then abandon it for a few months. It wasn’t until around 2013 before I finally understood the character of Tigano the faery. Once I knew who he was, the rest of the plot fell into place and the rest of Blood of the Dragon wrote itself.

One of the pictures I found while researching the climax for Heart of the Dragon. How can one not be inspired looking at this eerie abandoned hallway?!!

I began researching Book 2 in 2016. By the time the bulk of my research was complete four months later, I had very clear plot. Except for rearranging a few early chapters, I wrote in a linear manner from start to finish and always knew exactly where I was headed. There were many days where I couldn’t type fast enough to keep up with the words bursting out. This is how writing a book is supposed to happen! (or so the writing experts say).

A picture I found online to remind me of one of my dreams that inspired Bones of the Dragon

Book 3 has been yet another experience! When I finished Book 2, I had a vague idea for what needed to happen but putting pen to paper felt impossible. Last fall, I had a series of dreams, each of which inspired a different chapter, none of which happen in a linear order! Instead of a period of intense research, I’d quickly write down the inspiration, then research the story that came out of my dreams!

As of today, I have five completed chapters, as well as fragments of three more (scenes that need to happen, but are not long enough to stand alone as a chapter). Yesterday, I woke up to find the opening line for another chapter bouncing around in my brain, begging me to write it down. That makes four fragments now.

Each time I complete a chapter or a fragment, the overall plot becomes more clear. It took writing the most recent completed chapter (which takes place in the middle of the book!) for the plot to fall into place, but now the framework is done.

Actually, the climax didn’t work until I emailed my editors with an idea that required killing off an important character. One of my editors came back with a way to save that character. When I read her suggestion, I immediately knew not only was she right, but it provided a way to complete the climax. I love collaboration! (This has happened several times with all my books: I send an idea to my editors and they come back with a suggestion to improve the story.)

It’s a strange way to write a book, much like dumping out a box of legos and expecting to put a set together with a stick figure sketch as a guide. It’s working, however, and the story is flowing.

There are few things in life that compare with listening to a story and being the one to put it down for the rest of the world to hear.