I've never been what you would call a veracious reader or even an avid writer. I wrote when necessary, and maybe a little bit more than that, but I was never one who would write and write and write some more.
And then I decided to write a book. Why? Because I tend to jump into things head first and hope for the best :) But really, it was therapeutic, like journaling except for instead of my own life, it was a new world I was creating. It started by just sitting down and actually going for it - not holding back. I wrote the first two scenes of chapter one and I was off.
Writing is a process, and it can be different for everyone. Some people need an outline, a detailed guide, or a spark of an idea. Other's might just write until they can't write anymore and see what they've got. For me, it was a little bit of both. For years I had had ideas for what I wanted to be written, but I never knew how they connected. My process was a one-bit organization, two bits just throwing things on the wall to see what stuck, and ten bits revisions, revisions, revisions.
And then more revisions.
This is how I write:
First, I just start. I take an idea and I run with it, describing what's happening next in my head as if I'm watching a T.V. show or movie. I honestly sometimes have no idea where the characters are going or what new character might pop up, I'm solely along for the ride. After that, I begin to plot out what should happen in the future - big ideas of where I want to go. I never detail the small stuff - because I found that the small stuff ended up revealing itself through the writing process.
Thus, I may say: in Chapter Six I want Oliver to deal with his family and have this kind of resolution. Then I begin to write and find out the journey of how he ended up dealing with his family. I do this for every chapter, and sometimes I can stick to the plan and other times my characters take me on new adventures.
After I've written a chapter, I'll go back through it, revising it, tweaking words, maybe entire plots. After that first read through, I move onto the next chapter, all the while thinking about the previous one. After I finish the next chapter, I go back to the first one, seeing if it still makes sense in the overall story.
Moving on, I do this for each chapter, essentially rereading the same chapter multiple times. Once I finished my book, I re-read everything again, this time as a full run through, and when I was satisfied, I sent it to a few friends and took a break.
Why did I take a break? Because I found myself too much in the weeds of everything, and I couldn't see my book with fresh eyes. So taking off a few months, I let the ideas and plots marinate in my head. Then I went back to it and started revising it once more - this time changing large portions of things that didn't work as well, and trying my hardest to condense this massive text.
I'm not the best self-editor in the world, and it can be frustrating to read the same thing over and over in such a short period of time. I often have to remind myself that by going over it like so, I'm getting all the wrinkles out of everything.
Essentially I'm writing my book twice, or at the very least 1.5 times. The process is arduious, and thorough, but in the end, will be well worth it.