I always enjoyed reading interviews with established novelists or watching them on YouTube explain their writing processes and then contrast them with mine.

As I ventured into writing novels, people have asked me about my process. So I thought I’d answer them for anyone interested. But remember that what works for me may not work for other writers. They will eventually find the process which works for them.

How much do you outline your stories before you write?

Not much, for a number of reasons. I once heard Stephen King tell an audience that he doesn’t outline because he doesn’t want to know how the story progresses or the ending of a story. “What fun is that?” he said―and I agree.

Who wants to know the ending of a movie or sporting event? A good story―with its peaks and valleys and twists―will not only enthrall readers, but the writer as well. That’s the fun of the journey that writers take with their characters. In screenwriting there are “beats,” which are events that comprise the story. But as I have found with novel writing, characters and the story itself often take on a life of their own and disrupt any preexisting outline.

So in-depth outlining will change, forcing me to write the story to appease the outline rather than letting the tale grow organically. When the outline changes―and it often does―it makes much of the outlining a waste of time. I’d rather let my story develop on its own. It often makes for a pleasant surprise!

To begin a story, all I really need is a unique concept, a strong title, and a protagonist. That’s it. James Joyce needed a title and the ending. But as King wrote in the preface to his novel, The Shining, many times the ending in a writer’s head changes by time the writer actually writes it.

Do you write every day? How many pages per day?

Yes, I write every day. It may not be for a novel; it could be a blog for my website, or just some in-depth research notes for a forthcoming story. I’ve never had a problem with discipline or writer’s block―and I’m very grateful for that.

I don’t count pages or words per day. I write until I feel that I’m done for that particular writing session. I also employ a writer’s trick that I believe Ernest Hemingway used: I stop when I know what the next line or scene will be, which then serves as my starting point for the next day. I put a note in brackets (“[ ]”) that might include a line of dialogue or just something about what occurs. I also highlight the note in yellow to make it stand out. This little trick has worked very well for me.

If you write character biographies, how in-depth do you go?

I don’t write anything down. I know many writers who create lengthy biographies for their characters so that their actions are consistent throughout the story. That’s fine. I tried it some time ago and found it useless when I began writing. I think about my characters for quite some time before I start writing, so those bios are more mental notes than details on paper. Like outlining, I fear that a character will change as they become real on paper―as has happened to one of my principal characters in my novel-in-progress, The Sinai Protocol―so I’d rather let them develop organically.

How do you come up with your unique story lines?

My stories revolve around biblical mysteries, so for many years I’ve been curating  interesting lines or thoughts from the Bible and then connecting them with current events (that’s the newshound in me!). Most of my tales take place in the present because I really enjoy finding the eerie or odd connections between the past and the present.

For instance, I know from my bible prophecy studies that the old Roman Empire―consisting of Europe, the Middle East and Asia Minor, and North Africa―will one day be revived. In 2026, European Union leaders began building a new continental order consisting of many of the former Roman Empire states. According to the Bible, the AntiChrist will arise from this new Roman Empire.

I was dumbfounded by this development. The novelist in me started thinking: Could this sequence of events be driven by prophecy? Or could there be a group of powerful individuals―a covert Deep State?―who are intentionally driving these events to fulfill prophecy and bring about their intended secular leader, the dreaded AntiChrist?

Mmm. Sure sounds like a fascinating tale to me.