Author Insight: My Writing System — I Plot As I Write

I don't plot the whole novel before I start writing.

I start with the basic idea and perhaps the first three chapters.

Then the characters come alive, the plot develops.

I discover it as I write.

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**Author Insight: My Writing System — My Secret Weapons**

Two simple things make my writing system work:

✏️ Coloured stickers

📎 Treasury tags

Crime novels evolve. My system lets them.

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Author Insight: Why I Still Write Everything in Pencil

I still write all my plot lines in pencil.

Because novels change.

Characters change. Plots change. Even murderers and motives can change.

Pencil gives me permission to rethink, redraft and rub things out.

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Author Insight: My Writing System — Why I Stopped Using Notebooks

Many writers swear by notebooks. I tried them too.

But it didn't work for me.

So notebooks went out.

No folders. No notebooks.

So what next?

My bundles of paper...

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Friday Author Insight: Part 2: My Writing System: Why Folders Never Worked For Me

The problem?

Once something was filed away, my brain thought it was finished.

But a novel needs to stay alive throughout writing and revision.

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Author Insight: My System of Writing – Part 1

Every writer finds their own.

There isn't one right system of writing a novel. Here I talk about why discovering your own way of working is so important — and why another writer's system may not work for you.

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