On Making Writing a Process

Novelist and creative writing tutor Rachel Grosvenor weighs in

Is your writing process something mysterious, or methodical?

We hand over to fantasy writer Rachel Grosvenor today, to help motivate our pens…

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When people hear that I’m a writer, many ask what my process is. It’s a good question and a fair one, and is debated back and forth in writing groups, online, and wherever creatives dwell. Books have been written on it. Thousands of words have been flung into the air, debating the best process for writing a book. So, as the author of four books (my debut, The Finery, was released on 25th August 2023!), here’s my personal motto on the subject…

If you don’t write, nothing will change. 

There it is. That’s the phrase that keeps me coming back to the blank page again and again. What do I want to change? Simple. I want more words on that page so that, ultimately, a novel arrives in the space before me. I want to give a reader the gift that Tolkien, Kate Atkinson, Margaret Atwood and Terry Pratchett give to me: joy. 

The process of writing looks different to everyone. Stephen King writes every day, and this suggestion is often repeated in the creative writing classroom. As a writing coach who spent years teaching writing, it’s something that I have heard time and time again. But here’s the thing you should bear in mind…writing every day does not work for everyone. It doesn’t work for me for the same reason that working out every day doesn’t work for me. I need time to let my muscles rest.