John Baker’s Blog

What phases are involved in the creation of a text?
 
In my naïve youth, I used to think authors wrote books chapter by chapter. I also thought they wrote the book, sent it to a publisher, and it got printed as is. Having become an author, I soon realised that books are written in snatches, sometimes [...]

What phases are involved in the creation of a text?
1. Birth of an idea. Often accompanied by the wholly ludicrous (in retrospect) belief that this book/play/story/film will be the greatest thing since the introduction of loaves which do not call for the use of a bread knife.
2. Period of gestation and further thought, while driving [...]

What phases are involved in the creation of a text?
Off the top of my head, I think the stages are not a set order and end is an arbitrarily drawn line.
Stages? There is perception, experience, reaction, attaching words, revision as composition in your head as you shuffle the pieces of frame, revision on the [...]

What phases are involved in the creation of a text?
I alternate drafts of two types. First, the let-it-pour, fast, intuitive draft. Then the pore-over-it, thoughtful revision.
Then the alternation again. And again…. It takes me a lot of drafts to get there, with both my novels and narrative nonfiction.
My books have to do [...]