Through the Writing Wilderness: My Process Unfolded

This writing journey started in October of 2022. I was playing around on Reedsy and discovered their variety of templates for the early stages of novel writing. On a whim, I downloaded an outlining template and started to play with it, making up a story on the fly.

I've always considered myself a writer. I wrote fanfic in grade school, before I even knew what it was. A 160-page Word document told the never-ending saga of a young woman (I don't even remember what I named her) that carried me through middle school. Chapter upon chapter of conflict and drama with no end in sight. Until I forgot about the document and buried my writing world for years. Back then, I didn't understand concepts like structure and scenes, tension and stakes. I just wrote.

Years later, I felt the drive to write again. Through a deep dive into my genealogy, I found names and stories that called to me. With the outlining template before me, a story began to take form. This time, something was different. For the first time, the outline I created had a beginning, middle, and end. I felt suddenly enlightened. This could be a book!

That book, though it had a clear ending, wasn't the end of the story. A second and third outline followed. Filled with excitement and pride, I continued plotting out four more books. My path now set itself before me: I would be an author.

At that point, I began to write what I refer to as my "zero drafts." Long, messy run-on sentences. Every big thing and small idea that I wanted in the stories. Book by book, I zero-drafted seven books over the course of six months. Nothing too deep—basically just expanded outlines. My love and fascination with the world of Nalavaris sunk its hooks into my soul.

I began my first draft of book one in May 2024. Wrote daily-ish until typing "The End" in early January of 2025. Tears overwhelmed me. I wrote a book. A whole ass book. Even as the words flowed, I knew there were a plethora of changes necessary, knew that Isolda's character arc needed a huge overhaul. Yet, I had finished the draft.

Most authors suggest taking a few weeks to months away from a first draft before tackling it again. I decided to send my dumpster fire of a first draft to a developmental editor with one question: Is this even a story? She came back with "Yes, but you need to develop many things..." The list was long, but I knew she was right. First things first: my poor main character's arc. I knew when I was writing that she deserved so much better.

In changing Isolda's arc, pieces of the whole book shifted. The beginning transformed to increase tension and make her fears and wounds clear. The middle and ending evolved to tell the story the way Isolda deserved. With the changes figured out, I found myself overwhelmed. I saw no point in editing. I decided to write a whole new draft, start to finish.

Opening up my Scrivener file, I felt rudderless. I needed a tighter, tenser outline. A new and improved one to match Isolda's improved arc. At 15k words now, I call it a beat sheet...but it's so much deeper than that. It's a second zero draft. Draft 1.5? An expanded outline? Whatever it is, I'm several scenes into act two and will be using it as a guide when I actually start writing the second draft for real.

It's been almost three years since I started filling out that outline template. Sometimes I feel like I'm taking too long. Other indie authors are much more prolific, publishing multiple books a year. Then I remind myself: this story I aim to tell, this world I am building—I want to do it justice. Not only for the characters but for my readers too.

So I keep writing, knowing in my heart that it will be worth it. Knowing that there are six other books ahead, and they'll be better for the time I take to get book one right. Isn't that the real journey after all? Not how quickly we reach the destination, but how meaningfully we craft the path?