What is your writing process? For instance do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first?
A book from start to finish looks something like this:
Idea, inspiration, several scrap pieces of papers with random ideas.
- Outline (brief chapter summaries of what’s going to happen in each chapter, making sense of those random ideas and throwing out the ones that don’t fit)
- First draft (getting the words on paper, not caring if I use bad grammar or spell something wrong)
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- In this phase, I’ll modify the outline as needed, adding in additional chapters to flesh out the story, or completely changing some of the chapter outlines if they no longer work.
- During this phase, I also add comments of changes I want to make or consistency checks to work on during a future draft so I don’t break the flow of writing during the first draft.
- Second draft (reading through the book, resolving some comments, adding several more comments, possibly even adding additional chapters)
- Third draft (clearing up the comments, rearranging some chapters, double checking consistency, spelling, and grammar)
- Send to proofreader
- Final draft (reading through the book again and checking for consistency issues, spelling, grammar, wording, any other glaring changes)
- Move on to formatting and publishing!
Each step changes per book, but for the most part those are the general steps I follow. Some books require more editing, others not as much. It depends on the book and how distracted (or inspired) I am when I’m writing it.
Black Magnet
Heat Book 1
by David Neth
Genre: Superhero Action Adventure
The city is heating up…
Ash doesn’t know who he is or how he ended up in an old coal mine outside the city. Even more terrifying, he discovers that he can throw fire from the palms of his hands when he saves Rachel from being mugged. She’s a researcher, who develops a curiosity for his powers. With the help of Rachel and her coworker, Perry, Ash tries to piece together what happened to him.
They soon encounter another super they call the Gatekeeper, who knows Ash’s history and holds a grudge against him for it that he expects Ash to pay for. But the Gatekeeper seems to be more powerful than Ash’s own moniker: Heat. With the Gatekeeper’s apprentice, Black Magnet, terrorizing the city, Heat will have to fight his way to uncover answers about his past.
However, those answers won’t set him free.
Book Trailer
Dust Storm
Heat Book 2
The truth will set him free…
In the aftermath of Black Magnet’s demise, Ash and his friends are still adjusting to the ramifications its had on their lives. Now equipped with a glimpse of who he was before he woke up in the mine, Ash is reluctant to learn more about himself and looks for anything to keep his mind off of his past.
When a student at Perry’s new job at a nearby university winds up dead with no sign of attack other than sand scattered around the body, Ash finds the perfect distraction. Only, he can barely get answers on the first victim before another student is killed in the same way somewhere else on campus.
While attempting to solve the murders that Ash knows was done by a super, he soon finds himself in the cross-hairs of the police detective leading the investigation. In order to stop the super truly responsible for the murders, Ash is faced with a choice: take the fall for the attacks or expose himself as Heat.
The Gatekeeper
Heat Book 3
His enemies are closer than he thinks…
When Ash gets a phone call from Detective Jenna Harkness, he knows he’s in for a whirlwind. She tells him an officer brought in a crazy man who might be of interest to him.
The man thinks it’s 1969.
But when Ash listens in when Harkness interviews the man–who identifies himself as Donald Douglas–he isn’t convinced that there’s much of a connection. That is, until Douglas lays eyes on Ash and spits in his face.
The team soon discovers that Douglas is the latest hitman hired by the Gatekeeper to kill Heat. But they still haven’t figured out a way to stop the Gatekeeper and keep him contained under police supervision. And unlike Heat, he’s willing to change history to settle the score.
David Neth is the author of the Heat series, the Fuse series, the Under the Moon series, and other stories. He lives in Batavia, NY, where he dreams of a successful publishing career and opening his own bookstore.
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Where do find inspiration for your books?
Thanks for the question!
It depends. General plot ideas I get from other books, TV shows, songs, sometimes movies. Specific details for characters or situations might be from something I’ve seen in real life or read about somewhere else.