Writing Process Questionnaire

Join Us

Our next regular meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 31st at 10 a.m. in the College Station Barnes & Noble. This month Molly Blaisdell will discuss the writing process. We'll also discuss news and provide encouragement. Gentle critique begins at 9:30 a.m. Bring copies of 5 double-spaced pages of your work in progress. Those who have time may go to lunch at a local restaurant afterwards.

Note: Our meetings are open to members and non-members. If you are interested in SCBWI or children's literature in general attending is a great way to meet our community and get your feet wet.

The following questionnaire is to help us leverage the "group mind" at our next meeting. We are not alone. Let's share our best tips to help all achieve success. 

Questions about your writing process. Come prepared to discuss the following. 

GENERAL

Who do you write for? Your childhood self? A friend? Your family? Who is your audience?

What advice have discovered is a myth about the writing process?

How does rejection play into your writing process?

What is the purpose or combination of purposes for your writing?

Do you suffer writing blocks? What part of the process is most likely to be blocked? Do external circumstances block you?

What book has most influenced your writing process?

What is your biggest process challenge in your process?

What is your interior self-talk like as your write?  

Do you use deadlines as part of your writing process? Explain.

Do you make specific writing goals?

Do you use deadlines as part of your writing process? Explain.

Share an analogy about your process. Building a campfire? Unraveling a ball of yarn? Making a cake? What is your writing process analogy? 

PREWRITING

How do you generate ideas?

Do you have any unusual pre-writing habits?

Are you a clam, unwilling to talk until you have written, or are you a magpie telling all before your write? Why?

Do you write an outline? What kind? 

Do you research? How long? What kind? 

How do you organize your research? 

How do you research characters? Settings? 

PLANNING

Let's do the math. What percentage of your time is used researching, planning, and thinking? What percentage of your time is used on completingthe first draft? What percentage of your time is used on revising? What percentage of your time is used for editing?

FIRST DRAFT?

Where do you start your project? The last sentence? The biggest moment? The beginning?

Panster or Plotter? Do you go where the story leads you or do plot?

What is the environment you write in like?

Do you stay focused on one project or do you work on multiple projects?

Do you write in a linear fashion or do you jump all around?

What tools do you during your writing process? Pens? Paper? Software? Do tell.

How long does it take you to write the first draft?

REVISION

How long do you wait between revisions? 

Do you revise for holistically or atomistically? 

Do you cut tons or pad tons? 

Do edit and revise at the same time? 

Discuss the technical aspects of your revision, like revising hardcopies, changing font sizes, beta readers, etc.

COMPLETION

How many revisions does it take you to complete your project? 

Do you have any last draft rituals? Read aloud, share with a reader, etc. 

How do you know your novel is ready to submit? 

LAST QUESTIONS

What do you like least about the writing process? Why?

What do you like most about the writing process? Why?

If you could change one thing, what would it be? 

Molly Blaisdell (www.mollyblaisdell.com)

aka Cece Barlow (cecebarlow.blogger.com)