My Writing Process by Rebecca Heath

by Rebecca Heath

One thing I love almost as much as reading a wonderful book and travelling along that journey with the author, is to read about how that book came to be. There is something so interesting about reading another author’s writing process, like seeing behind the curtain of a magic trick for a belief that every book is something magical.

In comparison, thinking about my own process feels very much like seeing the mad paddling beneath the surface of the water of the duck gliding smoothly across the water. However, knowing how much I like reading about others’ processes makes me happy to share about mine. In particular my process to write my debut adult thriller release, The Summer Party.

Something I have discovered while writing a number of draft manuscripts across different genres is that, for me, every book is different. Sometimes, I have several ideas vying for writing time and other times I think I might never have another idea that I’m happy with again. All ideas are not created equal and I find I need to start writing the story at the precise point where I’m really excited to live in that world of my creation, exploring those characters and ideas for months. This means I need to know enough about them to be interested and invested in their arc, but I can’t be bored of the setup or have lost interest in the questions and threats to these characters by having played it out for too long in my head.

Writers often get asked where that first seed of the idea comes from and for me it can be anything, a conversation or article or random ‘what if’ while walking my beloved border collie Harriet. This is some of my best thinking time. 

For The Summer Party, there wasn’t one lightning strike of a moment but rather a coming together of a few different things. We had a trip of a lifetime planned to go from Australia to England, Scotland and Paris, however the pandemic meant it had to be cancelled. I was disappointed, of course, however when we were locked down I missed being able to just get in the car and drive to the places where I’d spent so much of my childhood. I longed to share these locations and the memories that came with them with my family. 

It was thinking about my childhood summers staying with relatives by the sea that led me to my main character Lucy. Like I was as a child, Lucy is sent to stay with her grandmother in the holidays because her single working mother has no other childcare alternative. In the past timeline of The Summer Party, I wanted to explore that time where wanting to be that friend you admire is as important as wanting to be with that person who you have a crush on and how these intense relationships, combined with the wanting the ‘perfect’ lives they might seem to lead, can then play out over the years.

And then, of course, in the present when Lucy returns to that seaside town to pack up her grandmother’s home, there is the body.

I’m a strong believer that the plot comes from the motivations, strengths and weaknesses of the characters so my process in writing The Summer Party in terms of the plot was to know each important character as well as I could and then let them go in the situation they find themselves at the beginning of the book and see what happens. (My background studying science makes me think of giving the component parts – the characters – a lot of energy and then setting the reaction off and recording how it plays out)  

To make sure I keep on track in my drafting I tend to have several character documents where I ‘cast’ them using pictures of celebrities so I can keep a clear picture in my head and also a few notebooks where I scribble scene ideas as they come to me and notes on my character’s goals and motivations. It helps me when I feel stuck to remember what the character wants and what is stopping them getting it. At the same time there is usually a mystery to solve and that affects both the plot and the characters.

In order to keep the words flowing in that drafting stage I have a writing friend who meets me online on writing days and we do half an hour writing sprints. Coffee or water close by and my border collie at my feet I write as much as I can and then report back. For The Summer Party there were days where I would get 700 words in a sprint, and days of only managing a handful of words, but it all adds up. It’s the support of writing friends that help me get through that first draft. I’m not afraid to reward myself for a good week with some of my favourite dark chocolates, too.

After I have a draft completed, there are rounds and rounds of edits with my beta readers then onto my agent and editors. Getting a book like The Summer Party from the first hand written idea of Lucy falling for the intriguing personalities and impressive lifestyle of the Whitlam family in Queen’s Point to the final book takes a long time and a lot of help along the way but it is certainly worth it to hold that finished copy in my hands.

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Rebecca Heath studied science at university, worked in hospitality and teaching, and wrote obsessively whenever she could find the time. She wrote several young adult novels as Beck Nicholas, published in Australia and Germany. She lives in Adelaide, Australia, halfway between the city and the sea with her husband, three children and a much-loved border collie. She spent her childhood summers at a remote beach not unlike where The Summer Party is set. The Summer Party is her debut adult novel.

Find out more about Rebecca on her website https://www.rebeccaheathauthor.com/

Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/RHeathAuthor

 THE SUMMER PARTY

‘SIGN ME UP PLEASE!!! Boy, talk about a book that keeps you on the edge of your seat… 5 “this book was soo dang good” Stars!!! @triciabartley86, *****

Perfect families are only as perfect as their best kept secrets.

Summer, 2000
The Whitlam siblings have it all and sixteen-year-old Lucy only wants one thing – to be close to them. Soon she’s lazing around their impossibly large pool, wearing Annabel’s expensive clothes and having secret rendezvous with Harry, until at their lavish clifftop party she sees something that could jeopardise it all.

Winter, 2020
One failed marriage later, Lucy is back in town and quickly lured back into the Whitlam’s shiny world. But when a body washes up on the beach and someone seems determined to frame her for murder keeping their secrets this time could cost her everything.

Now that summer is over is she with them or against them?

A totally addictive psychological thriller you won’t be able to put down. Perfect for readers of A. A. Torre, Gillian McAllister and The Guest List.

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips