The Writing Process: From Start to Finish

M.L. Bull
Aug 25
3 min read

When we think about the writing process, it's quite similar to an assembly factory or the water cycle many of us learned in science class in school. Every function of the writing process is important and has its own purpose from start to finish. There are five main phases of the writing process including prewriting, research, plotting and outlining, drafting, and revising. Let's briefly go over the five writing phases and the tasks involved for each one of these. 🔍

WATCH THE EPISODE

See episode 26 of season 2 of my Journey of a Christian Writer series, The Writing Process: From Start to Finish or continue reading the blog post below.

THE WRITING PROCESS: THE FIVE PHASES

A colorful diagram of the writing process

As you can see, above is a diagram of the writing process in organizational order.

STAGE 1: PREWRITING

The first stage is prewriting. This is where writers brainstorm their concepts, topics, themes, thematic significance, story elements, and other literary devices they'd like to use within their story. Mind-mapping is a creative brainstorming method that can also be helpful for writers during the prewriting stage. Using Gitmind, a mind-mapping tool program is one quick and great way writers can do this. From there, writers can move to the next stage of research.

STAGE 2: RESEARCH

This second stage is when writers do a fact-check and looked up information based on a list of topics or formulated questions. I make a bullet list of my topics that I need to research on my personal prewriting worksheet. There are different types of research that writers can use during this stage, including primary and secondary resources. Although research is vital to ensure accuracy of facts, there are times writers may not need to research anything for their stories. This depends on the type of story they're writing and story length. Nonetheless, after this stage, comes the third stage of plotting and outlining.

STAGE 3: PLOTTING AND OUTLINING

This third stage is one of my favorites and when writers set up the storyline and get to know their characters and settings in their story world. Plotting and outlining are sometimes used interchangeably, but I see them as two different things. Plotting has more to do with the beginning, middle, and ending of a story, and its plot points, conflict, stakes, and tension. On the other hand, outlining is the story information about characters, settings, or visual props that writers will need to build their story world. All of this information can be placed in a writing reference called a story bible. After this, writers are ready to the fourth stage.

STAGE 4: DRAFTING

The fourth stage is self-explanatory and when writers write the first couple drafts of their story or book. Drafting is just another term many writers use for writing because it coins the process of writers creating the written drafts of their books, which can be done multiple ways from handwriting to a voice-recording method called dictation. Once they have one or more drafts written, it's time for the last and final stage.

STAGE 5: REVISING

The fifth stage is a combination of three different smaller tasks, including editing, rewriting, and proofreading. Overall, there are two different types of edits, which are macro edits and micro edits. Macro edits are broader and includes evaluating the story content of a book or novel, whereas micro edits look over grammatical errors, such as punctuation, word usage, or misspelled words. There are also different types of editing. One of the first edits I do is a macro edit using my ACT Editing Method. Hence, developmental editing.

CLOSING REMARKS:

A close-up of a notebook with a pen on top of it.

Besides developing a habit for reading books and other material, the writing process and its five stages are probably some of the most basic but crucial things for beginner writers to learn in order to write effectively and hone their writing craft. If you'd like to become a fiction or nonfiction writer, I advise you to get familiar with the writing process and all of the other basics before diving into deeper writing subjects and techniques. Keeping in mind and using the writing process in an orderly fashion will help you in the long run and allow you to take the necessary steps of completing a published book to the best of your ability. For more writing videos or tutorials, subscribe to my writing channel Journey of a Christian Writer series. All right, that's it for this post. If you liked it, please, give it a (heart❤️), take part in the poll 🤔, and share your thoughts or comments 💬 below.)

Happy Writing! 😊✍🏽💻

🤔Hey, writers, what's your favorite stage of the writing process listed below?