(5 min read.) This is the truth about how I write, plus something at the end that might help you write, too. “What’s your creative process like? What’s your creative writing process?” The creative writing process is not the same for everyone, but we can still learn from each other.
If you want the honest TEA on my creative process, stay here for the next five minutes. I’ll give you some real life examples. Then, I’ll sum up my actual practical approach in just four words.
(This post is an authentic mess. Sharing that reality can be empowering for others to see. But if you only want to see something totally tidy and helpful without any sweaty bits, you might prefer 2-min writing tip: start with your ending.)
How my Actual Creative Writing Process Looks
Here are a few ways my writing process actually happens.
MELEE. My brain and cursor dart all over the page. I have ideas about every part of the piece at kinda the same time and do my best to capture ‘em all. I leave sentences half-finished so I can run off to another section of the page, then I come back and add the rest of the dangling phrase. In the middle of the process, I realize it’s all completely out of order; time to engage extreme cut-and-paste mosh pit protocols. As I’m throwing whole big sections around in new arrangements, I continue to pinball around on a smaller scale too, adding new words all over the place. There’s no first draft or revision. There is constant scattered progress. There’s only ever one full draft, but it comes out in, like, multiverse order. Every word everywhere all at once. Eventually, it feels done. This is fine. NOBODY WHO READS THE FINISHED WORK KNOWS IT WAS A MELEE.
MIRACLE. I write every word perfectly the first time in exactly the correct order. I simply stack them up in an orderly fashion until they’re done. When I look at it later, all I have to do is fix a few spelling mistakes, wrangle some rebellious commas, and publish. I witness the miracle: A PERFECT FIRST DRAFT. This is fine. NOBODY WHO READS THE FINISHED WORK KNOWS IT WAS A MIRACLE.
OUTLINE. I often start with an outline, which is a fancy technical professional writing term for “any kind of plan.” I frequently create a detailed outline, planned down to the minute/word count, of every single thing that will happen. I edit the outline until it feels robust, efficient, and dynamic. Sometimes I get feedback on it and make it even stronger. I’m so excited about this outline. The bones are ideal. This creative writing process is going to be so smooth, right? I sit down to write. From that point, one of two things will happen. About 30% of the time, this happens: it all goes pretty much to plan. It is smooth! It is organized! It works! The finished project is animated and alive with exactly the predicted structure. About 70% of the time, this happens: in the middle of executing the plan, I discover a hundred ideas that are a lot better and write them instead. The finished project is animated and alive and looks nothing like the predicted structure. Whichever one happens is fine. NOBODY WHO READS THE FINISHED WORK KNOWS IF IT MATCHED THE OUTLINE.
GOOD IDEA. Sometimes I know I’ll write because I have a good idea. When I get a good idea, often I set a timer for 50 minutes to try and get it down on paper. In that time I capture some of it; enough to help me remember it. I work that idea into something bigger and it turns out well. How nice for me. It doesn’t always go like that. Sometimes I get a good idea, set a timer for 50 minutes to try to get it down on paper, and what comes out is an absolute mess that nobody but me would ever find legible. The original idea didn’t survive the transfer from mind to page. It died on the gurney during transport. I don’t regret giving it 50 minutes, because at least I tried, but it’s a pile of chaotic dreck with no potential. I look at it months later and it’s actually worse than I thought. I write a frustrated rant about how bad I am at this, and then a few hours later I come up with another idea that actually works and I capture that one and it turns out well. Either way is fine. NOBODY WHO READS THE FINISHED WORK KNOWS OR CARES IF WAS A GOOD IDEA FROM THE JUMP.
NO IDEA. Sometimes, I have no ideas. I have no ideas and set a timer for 15 minutes and start writing and it turns out I have an idea after all. The freewrite ends up turning into something I’m really happy with, even though I thought I was running on an empty tank. This is fine. NOBODY WHO READS ANYTHING I MAKE KNOWS OR CARES HOW I MADE IT.
So, that’s my filthy laundry. Here comes the part where I tell you something that I hope will help you.
My Actual Creative Process in Four Words
I used to yearn for a specific, repeatable, identifiable process. I thought that would make a real writer. “If I had a PROCESS, I could teach it. If I had a process, I could sell it as a METHOD. If I had a process, I would know that I’d always be able to make the next thing the same way I made the last thing, so I’d always be able to start/continue/finish and I’d never be scared again.” Even after I had done hundreds of projects and reached millions of people, I still wondered if maybe every writer in the world had a REAL WAY TO MAKE THINGS and I was out here splashing around with a wildly inefficient doggy paddle, because I’m a dumbass.
Some writers do have a refined and defined method.
Honey, so do I!!!!
My method is: THIS PROCESS IS FINE.
THIS. PROCESS. IS. FINE. That’s my actual creative process in four words.
Every writing project is as different and unique and individual. Loving to write is not so different from loving people. Everyone I love, I love in different ways. My creative writing process is like that, too. Everything I make, I make in different ways, and all of them are right and good.
I used to think this meant I could never coach. After all, my creative writing process is a mess, right? But people really wanted to know how I do what I do. People asked me for years if I would be their writing coach. It took about four years of me saying “I don’t do that” before I started saying “Okay, I will try.” It turns out, I love coaching and people get a lot out of our sessions.
The wild thing is that because my creative writing process has been so varied over the years, when people come to me as a writing coach I can actually help them. Whatever they’re going through in their creative writing process, I’ve likely walked through something pretty similar. Instead of forcing them to follow my method, I can help them find their own.
The thing I used to think meant I couldn’t coach is why I can.
Isn’t that gross? Oh well.
If you think you can’t write because of something about how you do it, it’s probably why you can. If your thinking is scattered, that’s why you can write something fast-paced and full of twists that excites people. If your thinking is slow, that’s why you can write something calm and stabilizing that holds people. If your thinking is a bit of an unruly chameleon like mine, that’s why you can write for the rest of your life as an endlessly experimental voice like me who gets called a “ruthless innovator” in the newspaper while changing colors and shapes through hundreds of different projects, forms, stories, and styles; you might baffle a few people, but you’ll never get bored.
However you write today…
Let your process be YOUR process.
Writing is one of the only things in life that you get to do your own way.
Enjoy that.
Write in little bits and string them together. Make an incredibly detailed plan and follow it exactly. Abandon something half-finished and let another richer idea grow from its compost. Let your creative writing process be an adventure. THIS. PROCESS. IS. FINE. Anything in creative writing is fine, as long you don’t give up.
xo, megan
Or just go home to the blog.
These (hopefully) really quite helpful creative writing tips offer what I’ve learned as an award-winning author who writes a million words a year, and what I’ve learned about supporting others as a private writing coach.
There’s no one way to write. There’s only your way. I hope some of my tactics and ideas can help you find it.
Yup, I’m a writing coach.
I work with folks at all levels of experience and all levels of income. My writers range from unhoused teens living on the streets to C-suite executives who want to up-level their communication. If you want a private coaching session but can’t afford it, email megan@howtowritesomething.com and ask for scholarship info.
curious/confused?: what does a writing coach do (and not do)
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