The craft of writing

So far we have told you that we write, but we haven’t given you any details. I’m inclined to share our working habits with you, and maybe provide you with some new ideas. Our way of writing a novel differs quite a lot from most authors, simply because we are two people (therefore two completely different minds) creating the same story, so we have to implement some extra stops.

STEP #1 How to share a brain?
The first thing we need to do is make sure that we are both on the same wave length: We go to a bar with a couple of notebooks and start outlining the plot for the next few chapters we have to write. This is the main line of the story, where we mention the most important characters and their roles.

STEP #2 What’s in a name?
We have seen our characters, but we know nothing about them. This is the part where we build their story and all the things that will be the base to their behaviour.

STEP #3 You are just jealous cause the voices are talking to me!
We listen to the characters. Some characters talk to one of us, some talk to the other. We listen to them and transcribe what they tell us. Sometimes their plans differ from ours. Usually, they win.

STEP #4 If we do not learn from the mistakes of history, we are doomed to repeat them
We write on the real World, so we need to know some historical facts to make sure our story makes sense in the timeline. Hours and hours surfing the Wikipedia in search for a light.

STEP #5 Write, write, write
Self explanatory

STEP #6 Food for the masses
We are getting closer to the end so we need to hear the opinions of others. We send the first draft to some friends and listen to what they have to say.

STEP #7 Winds of change
We implement changes, fill some chapters and add some things we might have forgotten in the first round. Hopefully, after this step, the book will be done.

(Here is where STEP #8 rich and famous should go, but since we haven’t achieved that yet, I’m just gonna mention it superficially.)