From Idea to Bookshelves — Part 1: When Does the Process of Writing a Book Start?

In this series of articles I will be taking you through the entire process of writing a book and publishing through Amazon. Since this is the first article, the question is simple…

When does the process of writing a book start?

This month I put fingers to keyboard on the first chapter of my next book, currently titled Name the Dead. A Word document was created and these words typed:

The first time he killed, he didn’t go out looking for someone to kill, it wasn’t like that at all.

But typing the opening line isn’t the start, not really. Surely, the beginning has to be when I first had the idea for this book. But determining that point is difficult. Was it a couple of years ago when I decided that this plot would become the basis for the fourth in my Cain series of thrillers? Well, no not really, because the general idea for Name the Dead had been rattling around my brain for ages.

Ten years ago, whilst working at my previous day job (before my current day job, I am not a financially independent author), I was listening to a podcast and heard a true story which at its core contained a fascinating high-concept that I thought would work wonderfully as the basis for a thriller. I…