The Writing Process - Part 1

Ideas and Research

 I thought it might be helpful during November to document the writing process from the first ideas through to publication and beyond. Of course, I have to stress, this is only my experience: other writers may describe the process very differently. I have only had one agent and one publisher, but I certainly have a better idea how the process works than I did before writing my books, so I hope my account is helpful.

Nikki Smith has already written an excellent blogpost on where ideas can come from. I can’t add much to it except to say the idea for my first novel came from an item on the lunchtimes news (about child migrants to Australia), the idea for my second from watching a documentary on Nicholas Winton and my third from discovering a new book on people’s experiences of world war two in the Channel Islands. (At the moment, my fourth novel will be based on something I read on facebook!) So I guess the message here, is to be alive to all sorts of different stories coming through different media. Everything is potentially grist to the mill.

Once I have a subject for my book, I spend a few weeks soaking up anything and everything to do with that subject. I start with non fiction, trying to glean the facts from experts. In the case of my current novel, this consists of archive material, as I have been unable to travel to Jersey to track down information first hand. I tend to buy books on kindle as I can use the ‘find’ facility to search particular facts easily. I also use the highlighter function to collect useful quotations which I can then print off and categorise according to where I need that information in the novel. If there are any films or documentaries available I try to get hold of and watch them, to glean additional facts and to gain a sense of place. I then turn to fiction and download a number of novels set in the same location as mine, partly to see what other people have written so I can avoid covering the same ground, and partly to see if there are any other details I can use (although I am very careful not to plagiarise).

If possible, I contact people who can provide first hand accounts of events. I’m lucky in that I write about world war two so there are still people around who went through that time – or whose parents did. Personal anecdotes can add colour and authenticity to the novels and really make the facts come alive.

Once I have done as much research as I feel necessary, I draw up a synopsis (see blog post of the same name) and categorise my research according to where I will need it in my novel.

Then I’m ready to begin!