My Writing Process--Writing With Abandon

Lola doing what she does best: being
a bit odd.

This week, to be honest, I haven't gotten much writing done. For those of you who don't know me personally, my mother had a stroke a few weeks back. I live with my parents and so, in addition to my regular work chores, which were pretty crazy until Wednesday when grades were finally finished, I'm kind of in charge of our house now. I do all the cooking and what cleaning gets done while I'm at home. I'm also the main caretaker of my folks' dog, Lola. In between all that, I spend as much time as I can at the rehabilitation facility where my mom is working toward recovery. When I'm not doing all that, I spend some time thinking about silly things like mortality and the reality of someday having to live in a world without my parents, the two most important human beings in my life. So, frankly, writing hasn't been high on my list of priorities.

That being said, I am finding at least a little bit of time to add to EJ's life story. And I find that I'm telling the whole darn thing, in surprising detail. Knowing full well that, just like movie directors shoot hours of footage that will ultimately end up on the cutting room floor, I will probably end up cutting out several of the pages I'm writing right now. And that's okay. Many of those pages are more for me than the reading audience, or at least they're for me more directly. What I mean is that I'm creating an entire world and life for this young lady that will be more meaningful to my readers if I am telling a story I know in great detail, even if I don't end up sharing all those details with the public. By writing with abandon, without worrying about whether this particular anecdote will end up in the finished product, I'm getting to know these characters so well that every detail I do share will be more real, more important, more impactful. 

For instance, right now I'm telling about the time when EJ and her mother are stuck on the side of the road, having just bought what they thought was a reliable used car. Out of cell range, they are hoping someone they know will stop so they don't have to hike several miles home. Someone does stop, but it's not who they're hoping for. It's a man with whom they had a run-in just a couple of days after they moved to Bramblewood and pretty much the last person they would want to see. I don't know if the whole scene will make it into the final cut of the book, but their conversation as he gives them a ride is filling in more details about EJ's mother's life. And that's important because EJ is coming into a town that her mother Charlene grew up in but that she, EJ, knows little of. 

The trick with editing is what to leave in and what to take out. It's a balancing act between giving the reader too much detail, which can make for a ponderous, boring read, and too little, which can leave the readers feeling like they missed something. But the beauty of where I am in the writing process is that I don't need to worry about that right now. I can just tell the story in all the minute detail I want and leave that other stuff for the editor to worry about. I know I'm the editor, but I'm not the editor right now. I'm the writer and I don't care that in a few months when I start the editing process I'll be calling down the wrath of God on that crazy writer who just couldn't keep his mouth shut. That editor guy is a merciless hack who wants to kill my babies, so he deserves the angst I'm causing him. 

My Writing Process: Beta Readers

Out my window, daffodils gently wave in the breeze, my father's pampas grass is peeking out from the brown remains of last year's growth, and trees are mostly in full bloom. It's spring. More importantly, for me as a writer at least, it's the long Easter weekend. And it couldn't have come at a better time. I'm just a few thousand words from having the first draft of my newest work in progress finished. It's my goal to have it completed by the time I head back to work on Tuesday. After that, it goes out to my beta readers. I don't know if all indie authors use them, but I have found them to be of great value. There are a few things I hope to get from beta readers.

• Proofreading I proofread my own work, but it's a long, long document (not long in terms of it really being a long book, but much longer than, say, an essay) and, in those 67,000 or so words, I miss things no matter how many times I read it. It's the whole theory of completion thing, where we see what we expect to see, not what is is actually there. For instance, how many of you noticed that I put is in that last sentence twice? Many won't have because the second wasn't supposed to be there and your brain skipped over it. I'm hoping if I put the book in front of enough eyes, they'll all notice things like that, which I've missed.

• Plot Holes We've all experienced them--a character comes from nowhere or something happens out of the blue and we go back to reread to see if we missed something, but we didn't because the author didn't give us enough information to have that character or event make sense. It's kind of like my English classes recently when I referred several times to a handout I'd distributed before someone in my fourth period class finally got brave enough to say, "Mr. S, we don't know what handout you're talking about." Turns out they were still inside my lectern where I'd left them. So I hope my beta readers can do that for me. Where are important things not made clear or left out altogether? Sometimes this happens when I go back and make a change somewhere early in the book and then don't carry out that change throughout. Other times it's just badly written, pure and simple. 

• Continuity  I have a unique situation in my books because they are parts of a series, so I have two competing issues. First, it needs to fit the larger arc of the series and the character development needs to start and continue on the track that I created in the earlier stories. But second, each book needs to be its own entity and a fully realized story all by itself. Not everyone reads your books in order. Yes, to fully appreciate the growth of Harry and Dee and Otis and Jenn, you really would be best served (and I would make more money) if you bought and read them in order. But that's just not reality. So I try to recruit readers who've read the first three as well as people who haven't read any of them. And I'm really asking those two groups to answer different questions. 

I don't really ask my beta readers for editing opinions, though I don't reject them out of hand if they offer them. If they tell me they don't like how I've drawn a character or a particular scene, or whether there's a better word or phrase I could use at any given time, then I'll examine it. But that's not really what I'm looking for from them. I want them to concentrate on reading the book as a reader, not an editor. Is it a technically correct, complete, fully realized story that stands on its own and also fits the broader arc I'm creating in the Shalan series? Those are the questions I want them to answer for me. 

Authors, do you use beta readers? If so, what do you ask of them? I'd love if you would share your ideas with me. 

But the larger question for me is to my readers who aren't necessarily authors: are any of you interested in being a beta reader for Shalan #4? If you have time to read and make some constructive comments in the next couple of weeks, please feel free to contact me. But be aware that you should only say yes if you can actually fit this in over the next couple of weeks. I really want to move forward with the next phase of the writing by mid-April. So if you have a bit of time and are interested in giving me a hand, please get in touch. 

My Writing Process: When The Mouse Hits a Dead End

As most writers will tell you, there really are two different types of writers: plotters and pantsers. I suppose it's possible there are some freakish hybrids out there, but I have no idea what that would look like. For those who aren't familiar with the words, the first is probably pretty self-evident. They plot out their books, and even series of books, down to the letter. They have summaries of each chapter and know going in who's going to live, who's going to die, and who the bad guy is. For them, writing is just filling in the spaces between a basically predetermined set of plot points. Pantsers, on the other hand, are flying by the seat of their pants. They are much like a mouse in a maze, trying out a route and turning around when they come to a dead end. Sometimes a route is long and circuitous, only to end up being fruitless--or cheeseless, if you want to carry on the mouse analogy.

I'm a firm pantser. To some degree or another, I am discovering the plot and characters as I write them. Author E. L. Doctorow said, "Writing a novel is like driving a car at night; you can see only as far as your headlights but you can make the whole trip that way." These, my friends, are the words of a pantser. I like the analogy, but I think a more accurate comparison is that writing is like exploring a house at night with the power out. You can see only as far as the end of the flashlight beam, but you can discover every room and its contents that way. I see writing as less a trip from point A to point B than a journey of discovery. And that's why I like being a pantser. If I already knew what and who was in every room, the joy of discovery would be abated. To paraphrase my dear old friend and teaching colleague Dan Daniel, I could be a plotter if I wanted to; I just can't want to.

But that's not to say my process doesn't have pitfalls. Like the mouse hits dead ends, sometimes I'll write whole chapters only to discover that I've taken a wrong turn. The route doesn't get me where I want to go or ends up not fitting in the overall narrative I think I'm trying to achieve. Sometimes, like an instance I wrote about with my second book, Kisses and Lies, it's a matter of rewriting a character to make her more sympathetic and round. In that case, if I introduced the character badly, it wouldn't break our hearts toward the end when she dies very badly at the hands of a horrible man.

And then there are situations like the one I've put myself in with my latest work in progress. I just wrote a scene this week in which the Shalans are on vacation and they discover that the murderer they were seeking back home has somehow appeared in North Carolina where they're staying. I felt when I was writing it that it was good stuff and would make for an intriguing twist. But the more I think about it, the more I feel like it might be a blind alley, to borrow a Britishism. I'm not sure I can satisfactorily explain how in the world the villain has ended up, against all odds, in the exact same place, hundreds of miles away, as the protagonists. Yes, I could make it fit, but I'd have to change the whole arc to the ending I've envisioned. I'm close enough to the end of the story that the final solution is starting to clarify in my mind and this story-line just does doesn't fit it. The killer isn't following Harry, Dee, and Jenn and to have this person show up two states away at the exact same place would require an astounding level of coincidence or it would necessitate coming up with a reason why he or she actually is following the Shalans.

So what do I do? I have two choices. I boot the scene and go a different direction. Like a regular old mouse, I turn around and try another route in the maze. But unlike a plain mouse, I have the ability to alter the maze. I can grab a grenade and blow a hole in the dead end and keep going. If I really like the scene and want to keep it, I've found a compelling reason to adjust my plot arc.

So which is it? Reroute or readjust the arc? Regular mouse or mighty mouse? I guess you'll have to read the book to find out.

My Writing Process: Today Is About The Other Half Of Being An Author

Front entrance of the new South Parkersburg Library

When I first started writing that initial book, I had no idea what I was getting myself into when it comes to the other half of being a writer. And no, I don't mean editing. I've learned over the years that's more like the other 3/4 of writing. But I'm talking about the part about being a salesman, a shill, a huckster. I'm talking about the half of being an author, especially (though I'm hearing from traditionally published authors that it's not exclusively) independent authors, where I put myself out there, trying to get people to buy and review my books. I honestly thought that, by this time, I would be working with an agent and a publisher and they would be doing all the phone calls and making the appointments and getting my books out there for people to buy. But that's not how it's working out--at least not right now.

There are parts of the process I really do enjoy, though. Today is one of those parts. I'll be at the South Parkersburg Library on Blizzard Drive doing a reading and signing. The reason I enjoy it is I love working with the library staff, all book lovers who like promoting authors, even tiny little local ones like me. And I get to meet people, some of whom already know my books and, I hope, some to whom I get to introduce Harry and Dee and Jenn and Otis and even Eddie the Superdog. And I am happy to pay it forward a bit too. I sincerely wish that some folks come for me and get turned on by the amazing new facility that's been built in South Parkersburg, as well as the remarkable, cheerful, committed staff who work there, not just for the money, but also for the love of all things library.

Me at my very first reading back in 2014 (?!)

Another aspect of today I enjoy is the reading. I love to read scenes from a book and have people ask thoughtful questions that show me they really have read my work and are invested in the characters. Frankly, I'm less interested in great sales numbers (not uninterested--just less interested) than in finding that tribe, as I've heard it called. That small core group of people who genuinely enjoy and care about the stories I tell and the characters I create. I'm definitely not there yet in terms of tribe-building. In fact, there are times when I feel like a tribe of one. Well, two counting my good friend Pepper. But then someone comes along and asks when the next book is coming out or tells me they loved my last one or they gave all of them as Christmas gifts and their mom really enjoyed them. So, though I have a long way to go, I'm making progress. I hope today helps move me further down the road.

Yes, there are aspects I really don't enjoy and, frankly, am just not good at. Those are the active parts, like making phone calls to bookstores and libraries and organizations who may be willing to host readings or carry my books for sale. It's not that I'm too lazy. It's putting myself out there, the asking, the requesting. I'm not just asking them to accept my books. Those books are part of me. When I ask someone if they're willing to take on my books for sale or give me time in their store or library, in my mind, I'm asking them to approve me. Intellectually, I know that's not really true. But I'm not just an intellectual person. Heck, I'm pretty sure I'm not even primarily an intellectual person. I really do wear my heart on my sleeve. And as such, it's easily bruised. So I avoid situations that allow for that, more often than is good for me if I want to actually become a commercially viable writer.

So one of my goals for this year is to try to toughen up that heart and learn to wear that other author hat more often and with more facility. The hat that has less to do with creating characters and more to do with creating my tribe.

So here's the call to action: please come to my event today! It's at the South Parkersburg Library, which is just past the fire station on Blizzard Drive. I'll be there from 10am to 2pm, so you have plenty of time to stop by. Even better, invite a book-loving friend to come along.

My Writing Process: Little Changes Make a Big Difference

In my latest work in progress, I am working on a series of chapters in which the main characters, Harry, Dee, and Jenn, are at the Outer Banks on their first family vacation. In it, Jenn pushes Harry and Dee to investigate an odd incident in which they encounter a boy on the beach and then find out shortly after that the police are looking for him because he's been reported missing. The bigger picture goal of this portion of the story is to set up Jenn's interest in private investigation with the intention of spinning her off and giving her a series of her own in which she investigates crimes on campus when she goes away to college.

But it seemed a shame to simply leave it at that. Yes, the goal would be achieved, but as I initially wrote it, the scene in which they encountered a policeman on the beach was, to put it mildly, mundane. To put it more accurately, it was just plain dull. It was marking time. It was setting up something later, but in a really lackluster way.

Yes, there is a place for the seemingly small, almost forgettable event becoming really significant later. There's a subtlety to it. But this scene wasn't designed to foreshadow something big later in the story (at least not when it comes to Jenn's amateur sleuthing career--but that's another post), so why not make the passage, I don't know, entertaining or something.

So I gave the cop a backstory. And not just any backstory. One that intersects with Harry's. He's an old college classmate. One that Harry didn't like much. Specifically, Wayne McGinnis was widely known as the campus hound dog, without many scruples when it came to whether a pretty girl was attached or not. And when he shows a little more interest in Dee than Harry finds appropriate, things get a little tense. And when the completely-without-guile Dee invites him to dinner, they get really tense.

Is it a coincidence that, in the midst of an ongoing investigation back home into the murder and mutilation of several men who were known to be cheating on their wives, the Shalans run into a person from Harry's past? What do you think? Just like in detective work, there are no coincidences in detective fiction. So why has McGinnis shown up? What's his connection to the case back in Parkersburg? I guess you'll have to wait a few months until the book debuts and find out for yourself.

So when I moved from a generic, have-you-seen-this-boy cop to an actual three-dimensional character who becomes a meaningful part of the larger narrative, the scenes moved from humdrum to compelling. And now instead of just furthering the plot and establishing information for later in the book and even for other books down the road, these chapters take on an added dimension of intrigue and interest. Intrigue and interest are almost always a good thing.

My Writing Process: Reaching Critical Mass

It's happened with every book I've written, and now that I'm working on number four, I feel like I can say every book. I'm beyond a trilogy into a series. But what am I talking about? Reaching critical mass.

What is critical mass? According to dictionary.com, the term has its origins in physics: the amount of a given fissionable material necessary to sustain a chain reaction at a constant rate. In other words, once you reach critical mass, the reaction is self-sustaining. It doesn't need any more fuel. It basically runs on its own without any outside interference.

Books reach critical mass. Books I'm reading and books I'm writing. Or at least I hope a book I'm reading does. I've read stories that ran out of gas partway there. I usually finished them anyway because, well, that's what I do. But a great book has a point at which something happens. An event, a change, a major revelation--something. At that point, the reaction between reader and book is self-sustaining and I better hope I don't have any pressing engagements because I'm going to jettison everything I can in order to keep reading until the end.

I've found that the same thing happens as a writer. It's not always at the same point in the story, but somewhere along the lines, I get captured in the interplay of the characters and the ball starts rolling toward the conclusion and I neither can nor want to stop it. I'm at that point in my new Shalan adventure. I'd been tinkering with it and making some small progress in figuring out the arc to the finish. But something just seemed to be missing.

Then a couple days ago, I went back and looked for what it was that was off. I realized there was a gaping hole in the plot that made Harry's journey back to wholeness ring false. It was too easy. He was broken and then, almost overnight, he was better. It just didn't feel right. So I set about filling the hole. In the process I created a new character who will help lead him out of his personal abyss. This new relationship will add a depth of resonance to the story that just wasn't there. It makes all the difference.  

Now that this plot element is clearing up, I'm ready to finish the book. I now have all the players in place. As a result, as opposed to how it is before I reach this point in the writing and sometimes have to talk myself into sitting down to write, now I look at my daily schedule as things I have to get out of the way (kind of like this blog post) in order to have time to write. And that's how I'll be until I get the rough draft finished, at which point I'll be able to take a few days to step away before going back to work on draft #2.

But until then, if you're my friend in real life, just be prepared for me to be making excuses when you invite me to do something. I'm sorry, but I can't--I'm busy writing.

Post in Writing Wranglers and Warriors

As you probably know if you follow me regularly, I am part of a blog group called Writing Wranglers and Warriors. Today, January 22, is my turn to post on that site, so I thought you might like to read it. You can either click the link above, or go HERE to read all about how I have a wonderful friend who serves as my sounding board when I'm trying to decide what to do and where to go with a story.