When I set out to write my teen novel, Desperado Moon, I hired a writing coach. I recognized early on that I needed someone to help me with this humongous undertaking. Although I was the captain of my ship, so to speak, I needed a navigator to stay on course and steer me clear of rocks and shallows so my book would make it to port at publishing harbor. Nora Profit was my navigator. She gave me excellent advice and guidance, asked all the right questions, and gave me the confidence I needed to finish what I thought was a monumental task.
You see, there are two camps of writers: The folks who talk a lot about writing a book, and the few who finish. I wanted to be in the second group. I wanted to finish it and get it to market, which, I might add, proved to be a very fulfilling and satisfying process.
The ‘talk-a-lot’ writers never get around to finishing a book because they know how hard it is. It’s a little like having a baby: Starts out by having a lot of fun, then continues with months of preparation, care, and hard labor (especially toward the end when there seems no end to the editing!).
I learned a lot. Some stuff I learned from books and attending beaucoup writing classes, but no amount of book-learning can replace a writing coach. Nora helped me a LOT with plot and theme and other things. But what I learned most was that the process of writing is different for everyone.
Every fiction writer has to discover his/her own writing process. How a writer approaches a story is as individual as there are people. There are no ‘set’ procedures for writing a book. (I’m talking about fiction here, as non-fiction—the setting forth of facts in order to inform or teach—is different).
Not all rules are rules; and not all rules apply. I have issues with a few—okay, a lot of—“How-To” books, especially the ones that espouse—ugh!—outlining. Many books and well-meaning people out there told me I had to outline before I could write.
Hogwash.
As you might be able to tell, outlines do not go over well with me.
Outlining is for the “left brain” thinkers (the logical people: Bean counters, list makers, and detail oriented folks). I’m a “right brain” person. I don’t want to outline every scene before I write. That’s too much work!
I prefer the “big picture” approach to writing. That is, I like to sit down and write—plunk the keys on my keyboard and have wondrous and amazingly coherent sentences form on my computer screen. I don’t use a guide, other than some loose notes and the ideas in my head. I leave my creative consciousness open to new directions and possibilities as I write. The last thing I need is a road map.
You see, by the time I actually commit to a project (and put my hands to the keyboard), I already have my characters and story formed in mind. I do it all in my head. While driving, mostly (I drive a lot). The rest of the time, I work out my story via my morning shower and/or in the wee hours of the morning, while I’m still in bed.
Basically, I know how I want the last scene to unfold and I write to it. No rigid outline is going to tell me to cruise down the highway when my characters are telling me to shift into four-wheel-drive. Yes, I can always edit the outline as I write, but why bother with one at all? In the end, I know where I want to go, and I want to stay open and receptive to my characters and the inevitable epiphanies that follow (and they do!)
Do outlines have a purpose? Yes, you betcha. One of my acquaintances, author James Rollins, uses outlines. Yes, I can say I knew him before he hit “the big time.” (A good friend of mine knows him pretty well and is in his critique group in Sacramento). He also came to speak at our writers club meeting and even taught in our 2005 writers conference—a great, funny, and creative guy! Oh, he has some great books out there—Doomsday Key, Map of Bones, Sigma Force, Ice Hunt, and others. But then he suddenly exploded as a best selling author and started getting the seven figure advances and big book deals. Well, when pressed, he said he doesn’t always use outlines, only when he’s writing his more complex thrillers. That makes sense. But I don’t write big, complex thrillers.
Outlines are good for keeping track of timing and important details—things that must be interwoven into the plot at certain times. That’s why Jim uses them, and I don’t blame him, not when writing the heavy duty stuff he writes.
I’m not saying that outlining is bad. All I’m saying is that I prefer to write with less restriction. Outlines do have their place, and if it works for one author, it doesn’t always work for another.
Outlines stifle creativity—at least for me.
I don’t get bogged down in details. I write with my gut, my intuition, my creativity, and, yup, I let those pesky characters boss me around. And it’s fun when that happens. Ask any writer who writes like I do and they’ll tell you: When a writer knows—really knows—her characters inside and out, they speak to you, their voices literally tell you, “I wouldn’t do that, I’d do this …”
The last thing I want to do is jerk them around to fit the mechanics of a preconceived plot outline.
The other thing I like to do is get the first draft completed, then work out the kinks afterwards. I build my stories like one peels an onion: One layer at a time. After I've completed the first draft, I then mop up the overdone scenes, delete the wordiness and the unneeded passages (anything that doesn’t add to the story), and then make sure the dialog is consistent and distinct from character to character.
When the basic story is done, I add the spices—local color, nature, animals, little details, and so on.
That’s another thing. Write the first draft unencumbered, without a coach, if you can. Why? Because it’s important to get the story out first, even if you don’t entirely know what it’s about.
I’m doing that with my next story, too. This one is going to be rich with detail, history, and conflict. It’s about a teenage boy who comes face-to-face with his fears and lives to overcome them—barely. It has a bit of mystery, a bit of the paranormal, and a bit of romance. And it’s a bit more complex than Desperado Moon.
But I’m still not going to use an outline—too logical, too “left brain” for me. I like the surprises that come as a result, and it usually means a better story in the long run.
And that goes for theme, too. Nora wanted to know right off what my theme was. Geez. I didn’t know—exactly.
And that is my advice for writers: If you don’t know—just write. Theme will come later. However, if a writer has his/her theme nailed down before writing, it will be more focused, making subsequent drafts fewer and easier.
Basically, all a writer has to do is ask him/herself “What is this story about?” and the theme will often appear.
Is it about love, revenge, betrayal, justice? Is it a crime-doesn’t-pay story?
Trust me. It will come. Either before or after the writing.
Desperado Moon is about a young girl and an outlaw horse finding a place where they truly belong. That’s the theme: Belonging. Oh, there are other, lesser themes going on in the book—taking responsibility, redemption, trust, etc.—but this was the primary theme. It is equally about how being misplaced creates conflict. The fear of not belonging is a common thread for teens. That’s why Desperado Moon speaks to young, insecure, and troubled girls.
I’m taking some time off. I’m going to spend a week at a writing retreat. No other writers, just me. Me and my laptop and my story, The Last Conquistador, holed up in a timeshare in Palm Springs. I want to move forward and work out the conflict between my characters. Basically, I want to get to know them better. I know them now, but I want to know more about what drives them, why Neil is such a bully, why Parker is so afraid of being a disappointment to his mother, why Dr. Santiago is so secretive, and so on. And I want to flesh out the conflict between Neil and Parker. There’s something going on there, and I’m thinking it has to do with a girl.
Ah, it’s a romance, you say.
Well, no, it’s a lot of things. It’s a western, a mystery, and a paranormal thriller. And it has a horse in it. It should appeal to just about everyone. To me—the die-hard horse lover—it’s just not a story unless there’s a horse in it.
Theme? Yes. Outline? Maybe. (We’ll see.) Since this one is a bit more complex, I may have to use one, but my gut tells me “No.” And you know what they say—“Go with your gut.”
Good advice. But, then again, I might wait and see what Parker and Dr. Santiago have to say about that.
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