Our Writing Process Thus Far

We are really enjoying the creation of our first full-length novel, whose working title is The Founder. It tells the story of a young woman, Virginia, born in 1901 in Boston, MA who works through the obstacles of her time to create a land for women to feel safe and grow.  The story begins in Boston but soon sends the reader to the beautiful Lakes Region of New Hampshire.  Since we both work full-time, it is hard to dedicate time each day to writing but as the weekend hits and we sit down to write, hours can go by.  We are learning so much about women’s issues in the 1900’s (Of course, we had to go see Suffs) and hope when all is said and done, our main character, Virginia, is able to express some of the anger, frustration, resilience and hope that it took for a woman  to bring a dream to life.  

We are still settling into our co-writing style and certainly it will evolve over time but for now, we have been researching and outlining our plot together.  We both like to write from an outline.  It doesn’t have to be too detailed but enough to focus each chapter and lead the story along.  We find pictures online when we’re trying to describe a scene so that we can begin from a common visual.  After one of us lays down the first round of sentences, it becomes a back and forth of edits and conversations until we’re ready to send it to a friend to read.  

Of course, it’s a slow process but we’re hoping to put in some significant hours this summer.

Happy Trails,

Nomi and Elyse