Mind you that title isn’t referring to no two authors write their books the same way I am talking about that as an author myself each book follows its own unique process from concept to manuscript.

My editor recently told me that he’d like to see material that is closer in tone to Vulcan’s Forge than the military SF adventure I recently showed to him. I’m good with that, after all I did write Vulcan’s Forge and I understand the wisdom of keep a stylistic and tone consistency to help build a readership. So, I responded with a few ideas that had been bouncing around my head and he came back indicating which one at this point interested him the most.

Now, I’m drafting the outline for this book using my typical five act structure as a framework. Her, it is was good enough for old Bill Shakespeare it’s good enough for me.

As is typical for me the very act of outlining, in even the basic form, expands and deepens my concepts turning vague ideas into concrete story and plot elements.

But, it’s not the same process I used on other books. Sometimes I just write out a long prose document telling the basic story from front to back, leaving spots that I know are too thin that I will have to work out later. Sometimes I craft careful character studies and maps first and then start the outlining, and this time it’s numbered bulleted points for act of the five acts with a separate character files that grows as I explore the story and structure.

The point is when you attend a con or a writing workshop and someone tells you from on high that this is the ‘one way’ to write a story know that what they are passing is bunk. There isn’t one way for different writers and not even for the same writer. Experiment, investigate, and discover the way that works for you for the project at hand.