Last week, we finished the draft of Book 3. It took 12 weeks, which is exactly how long it took Margie and I to draft BEAUTIFUL CREATURES & BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS. That may seem fast, but we also spend 6-8 months revising, so it isn't all fun and games.

While I was drafting, I would check in on Twitter, or send a tweet mentioning that I was going on eight straight hours that day, etc. I got A LOT of comments, from both readers and writers, and most of them were shocked. Eight straight hours of drafting? What was I thinking?

Which got me thinking about my drafting process and why it works so well for me. Luckily, my writing partner, Margie is the same way (maybe for different reasons), so it works out. Let me start out answering a few of the questions that came up on Twitter:

• Our drafts are roughly the same number of pages as the finished books, and are definitely not skeletal.
• There is no strategy involved. Margie and I wrote BEAUTIFUL CREATURES on a dare. We didn't write it with the intention (or wildest dreams) of publishing it. Our writing process came about very organically, and remains exactly the same as it was when we wrote BC.
• We are not pressured by our publisher to draft quickly.

So what's really going on? Why draft so fast? Why work eight hours a day, for weeks at a time?

The simple answer is: We both love to draft & that's the way we do it.

The complicated answer is more complicated.

After Margie and I outline the book on white boards in her office, it's time to draft. By that time, I'm dying to start. The story is there in my mind, waiting to get out. I can see the story playing out in my mind — hear the characters' voices, pieces of actual conversations. One of the reasons I draft so fast is because I'm afraid I'll lose all those bits and pieces. I can't write them down in a notebook — there are too many and they're too detailed. So I do the next best thing. Start writing.

And once we start writing, it's incredibly manic. Neither one of us can stop. We draft for six to ten hours, depending on the day. During the last week, before we turn it in, usually more.

I'm haunted by the unfinished pages. I think about those scenes and chapters constantly. And most nights, I dream about them. The story is literally fighting to get out. So I do the only thing I can — I write.

I don't have any special software or impressive process. I have a really comfy chair, my laptop, and a copy of our outline. I take a shower, drop my kids off at preschool or camp, make coffee, and start writing. That's around nine or ten. I usually listen music before I start (never while I'm actually writing). Generally, if I'm writing dark, I'll listen to: Black Sabbath, Soundgarden, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, The Killers, The White Stripes, and Foo Fighters. This is mixed with Southern rock — the kind of music I listen to in the South with my family — to remind me of WHERE I'm writing about: The Allman Brothers, Lynard Skynard, Molly Hatchet & the Doobie Brothers. Finally, I listen to the kind of music that reminds me of being a teen — moody, sad, dark, intense stuff. Nothing pop or angsty. I wasn't that kind of teen. For me, it means: The Cure, The Smiths, The Cult, old U2, Peter Gabriel, more Pink Floyd, REM, Green Day, Neko Case, and maybe some Stevie Nicks.

Then I'm ready to write. It has to be dead silent, because I actually hear the characters' voices in my head. And I start writing down everything they say. I'm on autopilot, and I don't stop until two or three when I either need to pick up my kids or eat. I do the same thing all over again at night after my kids go to bed. The next day, it starts again. The only exception is weekends, when I spend most of the day with my kids and I write at night. I take bathroom and Diet Coke breaks during these marathon drafting sessions, but that's about it.

Sometimes I get stuck. When I do, I usually skip the section I'm in and more on. I leave a hole where the scene or chapter I was stuck on goes & I fill it in later (or Margie does). But 12 weeks, later, we are holding the draft in our hands.

If you haven't figured it out, we love to draft. The downside is we hate to edit. And all the time we save drafting is spent during editing, where we barter and bargain our way through it. I wish we could draft and leave the editing to someone else, but it doesn't work that way. 

On that crazy note, I'm not advocating this kind of drafting. This is NOT writing advice. Every writer has their own process, and you should respect yours. I'm just sharing mine. I find that people who like to give tons of writing "advice," or tell you what you should or shouldn't be doing as a writer, are usually the people you should ignore. I rarely see brilliant YA writers shelling out tons of advice. In fact, they usually say things like, "Why are you asking me?"

My advice — don't listen to me. I'm just like you. A person with a story, trying to tell it the best way I know how. Your process is probably different. Maybe you hate to draft and love to revise. One of our best friends, drafts so tirelessly, that there is almost nothing to revise by the time he turns it in. There are thousands of ways to draft. Most of them are far saner than mine.

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