James Hywel
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What is my writing process?

What is my writing process?

Jan 10, 2023

I am always being asked where the inspiration comes from which allows me to write my children's books and to be honest, I don't really know. 

As I’ve said before, I don’t feel I can take credit for what is written on the pages. I’ve always felt that I am being dictated to, rather than coming up with the stories myself. I merely type what comes into my head, no matter how mad and crazy the words, or scenarios are. 

The other question is what’s my writing process?

These days I wake up and meditate for exactly 45 mins. It was longer than this but I’m finding that three-quarters of an hour is sufficient.

Then at about 9.00 am, I begin writing. I don’t have any idea what I’m going to write. There is no draft, skeleton or notes that I write on a piece of paper the day before. I simply sit down at my computer and wait for the words to arrive. When they do, it is a ‘one-take shot’. Many writers have a first draft, second draft and so on - I don’t. It comes into my head, onto the keyboard and that’s it, it’s done!

I’ve never sat back and said “well I’m not happy with that pile of junk” and pressed the delete button. 

The Milliner stories often pick up a thread that will flow into the next book and the one after that. This is not a conscious process, it just happens. There is no plan. 

I know for many writers, my process is very unorthodox, to say the least, and leaves many of my peers shaking their heads. I've been in endless discussions on Zoom with well-established writers and they sit there open-mouthed at my process. 

I always say that my process works for me and I really don’t know any other way of doing it. I’ve written over 250k words now in the Milliner series so far, so for me, the process works. I’m a firm believer that if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. 

So how many pages do I normally write each day? 

Usually between six and twelve a day, during the week, when I close the computer down at 5 pm. On weekends I may write two or three pages.

So there we have it. There is no magical inspiration or moments of sitting around the table discussing ideas for the next book. Every book starts with a blank page on the computer and me alone with my fingers at the ready. 

Long may it continue!

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