What is The Process?

Welcome! And thank you for taking even two seconds of your day, time and life, to read absolutely anything I’ve ever put on paper via wireless keyboard. It means the world to me, truly. My name is Gerald Clarett and I am an author, aspiring photographer, videographer, drone pilot and overall nerd. I love fantasy, fiction, wizards, dragons, dwarves and magical worlds. I am also a father, gamer and avid Magic: The Gathering player.

So what exactly is this? The Process started as an idea to begin cataloging my outlining process for my first, fantasy novel “Forged in Ice, Frozen in Flame”. I’ve never written a book before, and have since learned I have a bit of an odd way of outlining. I struggled to find anyone else who went about the process (Ha! Get it?”) the same way I do. I outline chapter by chapter, but I “free write” when I do it. Meaning that I basically write my thoughts, verbatim, the way they are in my head. I then use each outline, as a very rough guide to writing each chapter. To top it all off, I’m also a “pantser” . Which means I’m an author who, by and large, writes by the seat of my pants. I basically have an idea of how I want each chapter to start and where I’d prefer that it ended, but sometimes the characters write themselves. Super confusing isn’t it? Which brings me back to why I started this blog.

I wanted to bring readers on the journey of what it takes to write a book. Not only the outlining, but the thoughts afterwards on what you may have written, or what you may have forgot to add and everything in between. Not only that, The Process will serve as a place to help other writers figure out their Process, and how they discover their own work flow. Be that as a writer, photographer, videographer, or otherwise. I hope it can become a place for all to see what creative-types go through, step by step, day by day.

What can you expect?

The messy, often times frustrating things that happen when one tries to build an entire world from scratch. When you look at “universes” like Marvel, Harry Potter, Star Wars or Lord of the Rings think of all the layers of world building that has take place. It’s taken years of perfectly placed connections to tie all those characters together, and build the worlds that we all love to escape to. And you will be able to witness that here. The value I hope to add to your life by doing this, is to pull the curtain back on the complicated production of building the lives, histories and futures of fictional characters. And the thought process that went into making them.

What else do you want to see?

I’m always looking for ways to improve (See: What Can You Expect?”) So please send feedback, questions, comments or concerns. And let me know what you think. If you enjoy reading, pictures, videos and the occasional spelling-error, then please support me by “liking”, subscribing and telling a friend. I appreciate you taking the time to get this far. Welcome to The Process!