What’s Your Writing Process?
We asked 50 writers; here’s what they said
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Between April and May 2021, I reached out to a variety of active writers — mostly authors and bloggers, but also some journalists, lawyers, and students who write on a daily basis — and asked them about their writing process via this online form. I wanted to understand how they do it, what tools they use, what works and does not work for them. I received over 50 responses and here is a summary of what I found out.
All quotes highlighted below come directly from the responses I’ve received; the name of their authors is not mentioned in respect of their privacy.
We suggested the following generic writing process for reference:
73% of respondents found this process to relate highly to their experience, while only 11.5% found that it didn’t.
This process is mostly relevant for respondents who write books whereas those who write a high volume of short stories tend to bypass some of these steps, in particular outlining. 30% of respondents declared not doing any outlining.
“Don’t rule out anything. Write down all possible ideas.”
69% of respondents find Brainstorming to be “very” or “extremely” important. Most respondents find their creative ideas anywhere, anytime. Most brainstorm at their desk (19) but many enjoy brainstorming when walking (16) or exercising (8).
Getting overwhelmed by the amount of information is the most common problem respondents face during this phase (too much information, too diverse, never-ending, etc). Several respondents also report the problem of forgetting things and the difficulty or annoyance with research. It seems that coffee and pizza might help, whereas, contradictory to the myth, alcohol is not recommended!
“use paper, post it, colors…”
Outlining is the most divisive phase as a roughly equivalent number of respondents find it extremely important (18.5%), very important (22.2%), important but not critical (22.2%), not so important (24.1%), or pretty much irrelevant (13.0%)
Overthinking this process and struggling with putting all the ideas together are the two main challenges that are often reported by respondents.
“Freewriting and research”
Over 70% of respondents prefer freewriting (29.6%) or writing with as little interruption as possible (40.7%) when drafting. 11% write slowly and take as much time as possible choosing the right words and correcting as they write their initial draft.
Drafting is very personal and respondents express a variety of thoughts about what works and what does not, but it’s really all about writing. The biggest challenge seems to be to get out of it, either because there are too many ideas, too much research, lack of focus, some blocking issues, lack of structure, etc.
“Having multiple people look through and revise my paper before I take a look is the most efficient way.”
Revising and editing are different for each writer; some love it, some don’t; some spend a long time on it, some very little. However, two things stand out: first, it is typically an iterative process of its own. Second, compared to the previous phases, most writers see significant benefits in using external help, whether through some tool, talking to friends and family, or working with a professional editor.
Grammarly is the most popular tool for editing, systematically used by a third of respondents and often or occasionally used by another 22%.
When editing, several respondents mention hearing their story out loud to be most helpful.
“Publishing is an experience.”
Publishing is tough. For bloggers, social media works best to reach and grow their audience. For authors, book signing events seem to be working best. Reaching out to the right audience and publications remains challenging for most, if not all.
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are the top three platforms for our respondents to market their stories.
In this era of digitalization, with the rise of social media, smartphones, online book stores, blogging, and self-publication (to name a few), being a writer in this 21st century is a very different experience from what it was a generation earlier. This is both exciting and scary at times. My interest is to find ways to make this process smoother, more productive, more enjoyable.
I cannot thank enough the 55 writers who kindly shared their experience and thoughts on their writing habits. To each of you, if you read this, thank you very, very, very much!
This is just a short summary of our findings based on this online survey that remains open for those who wish to participate. If you’re interested in receiving the full 47 pages report, please reach out to me.
