Every Book Is Its Own Monster

Today, I sat down at my computer hoping to write an article about how to write a book. But this topic is so complicated and messy, I’m not sure I’m the right person to even write this. My name is Dea Poirier, I’ve written over 20 books, seven of which are out in the world now with another on the way. I’ve sold thousands of books, gotten the illusive orange banner on Amazon multiple times, I was even nominated for an award. I’ve spoken to aspiring writers, on podcasts. Hell, I’ve tried time and time again to give good advice to other writers. At the end of the day though, I feel like I’m the least qualified person to give anyone writing advice.

Why?

Because every book is its own monster. Every genre its own ecosystem. Every idea is something that must be explored and chased—sometimes tamed. Writing books is wild and messy, and though I’ve cobbled together a process that works for me, it’s still evolving, and every single word I put on a page makes me question—Am I doing this the right way? Is there even a right way?

(Who Is Telling the Story?)

I’m sure not everyone feels this way, maybe you’re confident and you’ve never been so certain about anything in your life as you are about your writing. And God do I hope you get to feel that way. But for me, each time I finish a manuscript, each time I pass it along to my editor, I wait for someone to figure out that I’m a fraud, and that after 20 books I still feel like I barely know what I’m doing.

I am a Type-A plotter that has to have a schedule and a structure. If I don’t, I can get overwhelmed by my drafts and I’m not sure which direction to go. And when you throw my aphantasia (the inability to see visuals in your mind) into the mix, that can make it even more difficult to keep track of characters, locations, and settings. As I’ve grown as a writer over the years, I’ve learned that if I use technology to help fill in some of the mental gaps that I have, it allows me to stay focused on the core of my story and to get a first draft on the page.

It all starts with an idea. My novels are mostly thrillers and mysteries, so my needs might be wildly different from yours and your mileage on this article may vary. Once I know what project I’m going to focus on next, I create my project plan for the book. This includes creating the outline, planning the characters including names, photos, backstories and descriptions, selecting a location, picking out floor plans for main character’s house, red herrings, possible character arcs, important backstory, alternate timeline details, any other major locations that will appear in the book I’ll select photos for those as well.

The tools that I find most helpful for my draft varies, but the core programs I find myself leaning on are Microsoft Word, OneNote (this allows me to keep my outline, images, and details in one place that’s easy to navigate), and Excel.

When I create my outline, I try to get as specific as possible. While I create an overview for my plot, I also break down anything major that needs to appear in specific scenes, dialogue I want to hit on, as well as any evidence or red herrings that will need to appear that chapter. For me, having a solid outline before I get started drafting is the most important part of my process, because this outline will also help with my editing process—as all of my edits start with an editing outline.

This background process of gathering all the necessary pieces to write my book will take between two to seven days. After I feel I’ve got enough to start, I create my timeline. I look at my goal word count for my first draft, how complicated the book is in general, and what real-life complications I may have come up that I’ll need to factor into my schedule. With my outline in place, I start drafting, usually focusing on getting at least one chapter done per sitting (if I can).

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If I have to step away in the middle of a chapter, I find that by leaving myself notes such as character will need to do X, Y, and Z next it really helps me pick the chapter right back up without interrupting my writing flow or having to go back and reread what I previously wrote. I’ve also found if I am absolutely struggling with a chapter, I’ll leave myself the same type of notes, abandon the chapter, and try writing it again later; I’ll move on to a scene that I know I can finish that day just to stay on track.

No matter how many times I write a book, the doubts never go away. Even if a project has been blessed by my agent, my editor, I’ll still have moments while I draft where I question everything and wonder if I’m telling the story in the right way. These doubts aren’t easy, I try to ignore them, but if I can’t push past it—I write my doubts about the book at the bottom of my drafting document. I’ll put in all my thoughts, the weak areas, what I think needs to be done better. Later, these help me craft my editing outline that helps me figure out how to take a first draft to a more polished manuscript.

To me, the editing outline is the key to fixing my books. My editing outline is my guide for how I’ll fix a book. For each chapter, I keep a bulleted list of scenes to fix, remove, add to, etc. I’ll note new chapters that need to be added into the mix. Usually, two passes gets my manuscript into a state where I’m no longer embarrassed for another human to read it—and that’s when I’ll get invaluable advice from critique partners, my agent, or editor. After that follows several more rounds of editing outlines, passes on drafts, and what feels like endless revisions until I get to a final product. And at the end of it all, I feel confident in the people that help craft my book, but my imposter syndrome is no better.

I tell myself that with each successive book that I hurl into the world that maybe this one will be the one that makes me feel qualified, that makes me feel like I know what I’m doing. But the truth is likely that I’ll never feel like anything but a fraud, and maybe I should embrace the chaos and uncertainty as part of my process.

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