Writers write stories in many ways. This is only one way. My way.
When I begin a story, even a long story like a novel, I have no master plan, no plot outline to guide me, no timeline, no list of characters. I sit down at the keyboard, open a new document, and wait for somebody to walk in. I don't turn anyone away. I've found that when I kick one character out, all the rest head for the door too. In fact, when I attempt to in any way control characters, they turn their backs and refuse to acknowledge my existence. In my upcoming novel, An Invitation to the Party, that first character was Vera, the Great Pyrenees. (I do know where she came from. I am a daily reader of the witty, acerbic, heartbreaking FB posts from Nashville attorney, Jean Harris's Great Pyr Rescue, www.facebook.com/bigfluffydogrescue.) Discovering Vera's name was easy. It was right there on her red collar. Upon arrival, she companionably flopped down next to me to wait. Before long, Garnet, her owner - such a laughable term, nobody owns a Great Pyr, usually it's the other way round - showed up. Somehow, I knew her name immediately. It's not always so easy. Sometimes someone nameless wanders into the story. Then I have to take a clue from the Grimm brothers' Rumplestiltskin, and start guessing. Sometimes it takes a very long time, but I know when I finally get it right. Then and only then does she or he (or they) make eye contact and start talking to me.
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We tend to write about what we know. I am a writer, thus this blog: Why write? What, when, where to write? Stay tuned. Archives
April 2024
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