My system of writing

Developing a system of writing that works for a writer is much like developing his or her style of writing. It takes time, and trial and error until something clicks and once you find what works for you, you usually stick with it. Before I struck on my 'perfect system' I tried all sorts of methods.

 A4 folders looked nice and neat, all properly indexed, but my mind told me that something in a file, was 'filed away' i.e. finished and a novel is a work in progress until that final proof from your publisher!  

With notebooks I got tired of flicking through various pages trying to find the precise piece of information I needed, when I needed it. And they weren't much use for containing the research pulled off the Internet, and from other sources. 

Wall maps and post-it notes looked messy and very rapidly got covered with other notes pinned over them. (Although I do use Ordnance Survey maps for my 1950s set mysteries, pulled off the internet showing the locale at that period of time and these are pinned on a board.)

I'm not really sure how I evolved my current system of working but gradually it came together and it works for me.

All my plot lines and character outlines are executed in pencil on scrap A4 paper.

The plot lines act as a story board and I usually start with the outline of the first two to three chapters, and a back story plotline.  This is by no means complete but will be added to as the crime novel develops, because I plot as I write.

The plot lines and each character outline is held together by a treasury tag (or India Tag), making it easy to slot things in before after or in the middle.

The individual characters have their name flagged up at the top of the front page in a coloured sticker, in theory making it easy for me to grab that character's details when I am writing and need to look up a fact about them. And I will build their details and jot down relevant items about them as they develop during the writing stages. 

 The research from various sources is then tagged on to that character and/or the plot line.

Or I will have separate sections, held together with a treasury tag: a calendar, tide timetables, events line, historical and other pertinent research facts.

The police and forensic research is separated from the characters and the plot lines

Area maps and sea charts are utilised and will have their own individual sections.  All of these flagged up with a colour sticker.

All these stay on my desk while I am working on the novel

 When I decide to set that novel aside and let it brew for a while – usually after 5th or 6th revisions (I usually do 8) – it is moved to a shelf in my custom designed work cabinet.

Nothing is ever filed away until the novel in question has been published

I’m usually working on two novels at the same time, albeit they are at different stages, while thinking through and jotting down ideas and plotlines for a third novel.

Take a whiz through the short video on the right (above) to see my system of writing!