The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Writing a Novel

Where do you get your ideas? Which comes first, the characters or the plot?
These are two of the questions that people often ask writers.

I remember the moment Lexie, the main character in Still Death, came to my mind – reading a newspaper article outside a café on a road trip in New South Wales, Australia. That was four or five years and several other projects ago, but she’s hung since then, and I guess that answers the opening questions.

Originally Lexie was going to be the main character in a different genre, but as I got to know her it was obvious her flaws and character arc needed a different type story. That was where I hit my first problem.

I’d written my earlier novels in a similar way – knowing the end point and outlining the first third to half of the novel. I decided this time I'd plan the entire novel so I wouldn’t get side tracked and waste time.

Oh boy, what a headache that gave me. At heart I believe I’m an outliner/planner, BUT this book just wouldn’t move out of the starting blocks. I spent several weeks trying to force a plot and got nowhere. Eventually I decided to start writing and see where it took me. 

It was scary. There were several times I emailed or met up with a writer friend, our conversations going something like this.

‘I’ve got a scene where this artist woman turns up and has a mysterious meeting with one of the other characters.’
‘Ooh, that sounds good.’
‘But I don’t know who the hell she is, or what part she’s playing.’

Or
‘Lexie’s husband is investigating this mysterious compound, but goodness knows what happens.’
 
Or simply:
‘Another guy’s turned up dead.’
 
About halfway through the first draft, I got to a point where it felt as though I was banging my head against the wall with the plot. I knew Lexie inside out and upside down, I knew what decision she’d make in any situation and why, but I couldn’t get traction with the plot.

Then came the light bulb moment. Looking back at it, it was obvious, but often the obvious is difficult to see. One evening when I should have been writing, I read an article that covered the different processes and ways people write novels. As most writers know, there’s the planner, outliner and pantser, but the article went deeper than that – do you start with characters, with a plot or with snapshots of scenes.

My ideas always start with characters. Suddenly I knew where I’d been going wrong. From the beginning I was trying to force a plot. I’d told myself as this was a murder/mystery I HAD to have the plot sorted out, but I don’t write like that and therefore couldn’t plan that way. If my ideas start with characters and they’re character-driven novels, then I have to let the characters drive the plot. It sounds so obvious now, but this was a real breakthrough.

I knew how Lexie thought and how she’d react to situations. I knew her flaws and the things that worried her and the ways she had to grow to become the person she needed to be at the end of the novel. Now I needed to figure out what would get her to that place.

The words didn’t exactly flash out of my fingers at lightning speed, but I could see where I needed to go and what needed to happen – I had a plot! But one that made sense to the characters and their growth.

If you’re interested in reading a little of Still Death, here’s the prologue.

Late May

The woman said goodbye to her friend and left the restaurant, paying no attention to the cars parked along the road. There were always cars, and usually people, although it was quiet at the moment. The restaurants and pubs were busy, but it was too early for anyone to make the move to the clubs a few streets away.

She smiled, remembering the phone calls of the past days. He missed her, couldn’t wait to finish the research on his current story and fly back. Couldn’t wait to see her again.

She’d missed him. He would be back at his apartment by now, working on the story and waiting for her. The previously arranged dinner had been unavoidable, but at least it was over.

Her smile crinkled light lines around her eyes. She glanced at her watch, increased her pace. It only took a few minutes to walk to his flat from here. He’d be waiting for her call, but she’d surprise him.

She didn’t see the man, silent in the shadows. Didn’t hear the few words he muttered into his phone.

Further along, she slowed as she turned to cross the street. A car came around the corner. She stepped out between the parked vehicles and glanced towards the dazzling headlights. The car stopped in the road, engine idling. The same model as his. Perhaps he’d come to pick her up, not wanting to wait any longer. The headlights blinded her. She squinted, trying to make out the driver or the registration number.

The car engine revved, tyres squealed, as it hurtled towards her. No time to move or call out. The car rammed into her. Knocked the breath out of her body. Tossed her onto the road like a limp rag doll. The frown of uncertainty still creased her forehead.

A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, dribbled down her cheek and onto the road. The car roared away. The man checked there was no one around. He approached the woman and crouched down. Watched the light fade from her eyes then made another phone call.

Still Death will be available from 8th November, but you can pre-order it from Amazon.  After the launch it will be $2.99 but at the moment you can pre-order it for 99 cents.

Great Expectations

Someone asked me what I'm working on at the moment. I’ve just published Lies of the Dead so I’m in the phase of deciding which bubbling idea to go with next. I have two quite different book ideas I’ve been considering, but one is definitely making all the running at the moment.

I love this part of the process, although it’s so nebulous it can hardly be called a process. I recall vividly sitting in a café on the coast somewhere between Sydney and Brisbane – okay I recall the moment and the café just not exactly where it was - reading a magazine article, when THE IDEA struck. 

As with the previous ideas that became books, at that point THE IDEA was just a premise with the main character appearing as little more than a silhouette.

She (the main character) is still nameless. I always take a long time with names before the correct one comes, but I know a lot more about her now than I did in that café. I know how she feels about some of the things that concern her and how she will react to situations. I know her family situation, her husband’s job (which is important to the plot), and with each piece of the puzzle she comes a little further out of the shadows.

The thing I love most about this part of the process is that there is all this possibility ahead of me before the internal critic gets to work and tells me I haven't quite captured the brilliance of my original idea!

On this subject my favourite philosopher (Winnie the Pooh) says, 'When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.'

Neil Gaiman said, ‘Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.’

So I’ll keep moving and in the meantime I’m enjoying the nebulous part of the process.

Airport Ideas - Small Changes

I was at the airport yesterday, always an interesting experience during school holidays. As I was a little early (useful as the car park was full!), I spent some time wandering around. Watching people arrive and depart (doing my writerly duty), I was reminded of the opening lines from the film Love Actually – yep always a sucker for the sentimental.

‘Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there – fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge – they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around.’

I’ve travelled on my own enough to know that moment when you stop momentarily in the arrivals lounge, and look around for that special person (or people). There's nothing quite like it.

As I mentioned the car park was full, and for a moment I experienced the sinking feeling of where the hell do I go now? Then a lovely man in a high viz jacket approached, asked me how long I would be parked, and directed me to some other parking.

Even though it was bedlam inside the airport building (school holidays!) the lady on the desk was polite, friendly and very helpful. 

Even simple experiences can turn on the edge of a coin. Nowhere to park and working to tight timeframes can change even the best mood into something less than lovely. I’ve known people be very polite, while still being extremely unhelpful and obstructive.

My experience yesterday was good, but it made me consider how small the change of events needed to be, to make it an unpleasant experience.

Consider your characters. They should already be under pressure with the big challenges and conflicts you’re throwing at them, but do you have any situations or events where everything goes okay for them, or scenes that could do with a little more tension? How could a small, seemingly insignificant action change the way the situation unfolds? It doesn’t have to be the main conflict or plot, but something else in their life that doesn’t run according to plan.

This has been on my mind recently, and in changing a few small things, I’ve made life so much harder for Tom, just as in the real world – tomorrow probably!

Research

On Twitter last night one of the trending hashtags was Things not to say to a writer. One tweet was along the lines of - 'At least you don't need to do research for a novel.'

Definitely not something to say to a writer.

The research for novels is interesting, and of course some genre's need much more research than others. I doubt whether I'll ever write a historical novel.  I think there is a real gift involved in getting the voice correct for the time period, while not making it impossible to understand now.  But even ruling out historical novels there is still a lot of research required for different topics.

I had a few funny looks when I asked what I would need to do to car brakes to cause an accident. Cue a hasty explanation that it was for a scene in Driftwood.

Lives Interrupted is about a group of people coping with the aftermath of the London bombings. I did a lot of research about the bombings themselves, but also on various types of injuries and rehabilitation.

My current work in progress starts with a suicide, and so I've been researching the police procedures around that.

Don't need to research to write a novel - huh.

What topics have you had to research while writing your novel, and did you find it easy?

Drama

John and Mary had a beautiful wedding day, even the weather behaved.  As the years went by John received several well-deserved promotions, and they bought a large house.  Their two daughters, Anna and Jenny, were always top of their class in school, and excelled at university.  Anna became a lawyer and Jenny a doctor.  When John retired, he and Mary were rich enough to spend the winter months cruising around the world.

Are you bored yet?

While we might wish ourselves a happy and prosperous life, it doesn't make an exciting read.

'Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.' - Dalai Lama.

Drama, tension, conflict - call it what you will, but these are elements we need in our storytelling.

What type of drama?  That depends on your genre.  If you're writing action, then it might be a bomb.  If you write murder mysteries, then it will probably be a body.  But it doesn't always have to be drama on a huge scale.  If the reader is emotionally invested in the character they will feel the tension and conflict the character feels.  

I've read books with 'small' drama's that have gripped me as much as large scale conflicts.  We just need to make sure we cut out the dull bits.

How to Annoy Your Readers

Last year, while I was in the UK, I heard a lot about a programme called Downton Abbey, although I didn't see it while I was there.  I've finally got around to watching some episodes on DVD, and so I was interested when I came across a review in The Huffington Post.  While the review is generally about the programme, Maureen Ryan makes some excellent points that apply equally to writing in general, and especially to the topic of plot, and mistakes to avoid.  

One of the main points that resonated with me was this: If a storyline can be removed entirely and it doesn't matter as it has no real effect on the characters, it's not a good story.' Following on from this were comments on silly storylines. I think here the two points are closely connected. The storylines were silly, or could be removed without effect, because they weren't fully explored.  We have two options for dealing with this: get rid of the storyline, or develop it so that it does become important.

The first draft is for getting our story written, not perfectly, but to give us the raw materials to craft into something much better. The first draft is where we are allowed the silly storylines that don't lead anywhere, or don't impact on the characters. Finding them is the first step. We then need to decide whether they should be developed into something that has a effect on the characters, or be deleted.

Something else to look for are plotlines that are concluded so fast they strain the reader's suspension of disbelief. Again this is fine for a first draft, but shouldn't remain that way.

Maureen Ryan also says. 'The point of the stories should be making the audience (reader) care about the people in the house (in your book). The point of every plot should be to shed light on who they are, what they want, why they want it and what compromises they'll have to make to get it.'

About halfway through the article (the paragraphs in italics) Maureen Ryan issues a plea to the creators of television (writers!) and these are good points for all of us to keep in mind.

Readers care about the characters - so don't mess them up for the sake of plot, have them act realistically. Even if the reader doesn't like them they should be compelled to find out what happens to them.

Don't come up with plot contrivances or coincidences just to fill space. Everything should matter and be there for a reason.

If there are larger events happening that lead to changes for our characters then let the reader see those reasonable changes, and how they impact on the characters.

All good advice - now to put it into action!