November 21, 2006: The Business of Writing

I went to the movies last Friday night with the family and friends--we saw, as you might have guessed, Stranger than Fiction. It was one of the best movies that I’ve seen in quite some time... and a not entirely inaccurate portrayal of the struggle that an author goes through with her characters. Now, I’m not suffering from Writer’s Block like Emma Thompson’s character, nor do I intend to kill my characters off (though I have one that I’d like to throttle a great deal of the time), but I do find that they often have minds of their own and that they don’t want to behave as I’ve suggested...

Let me explain the process of writing, as I see it:

I created a group of characters, and before I even began work on the book, I gave them histories--full biographies even. I imagined who they were, what their lives were like, how they spoke and dressed, their personality quirks, things like that. They became real to me. Then I set the plot in motion, introducing the characters to each other at the appropriate times, and watch the story unfold. I can control the circumstances and surroundings, by adding/subtracting people, objects or conveniences, but that’s about it. My characters must otherwise sort things out for themselves. My question, as a writer, is how (for example) will Elizabeth (my main character) react when she is confronted with a given situation given the life experiences she’s had thus far? And given those reactions, how will those around her respond?

My challenge is to share the answer with the reader in a manner that makes the reader care--care enough about Elizabeth, her friends, and about what will happen next to turn page after page until they reach the end of the book. That’s no small feat, especially since we’re following Elizabeth now as an adult interacting with her own teenaged daughter, while reliving those painful teenaged years herself. We want to know (or at least this is the idea): will Jenna stay out of trouble? will she end up with the right boy? and will Elizabeth finally give her high school boyfriend the what for, and in a way that is satisfying? and what about Elizabeth’s friends? what happens to them? I’ve worked hard to put humor, irony and suspense into the story so that it’s not just a story of teenage angst. I think I’ve succeeded, but I’m ready for some honest critique... I’ve signed up for a writer’s group where I hope I’ll get that and more, in addition to what I’m getting in class. Things are moving right along--now 2/3 of the way through the 2nd draft. My next class assignment: writing a summary of the book that makes the reader want to pick it up in the first place. Not easy. How do you distill 100,000 words with multiple plot/subplot lines into 1 or 2 paragraphs?

I’m finding that I can’t stop thinking about my characters and the plot lines while I’m awake, and that they sometimes intrude into my dreams, as well. Stephen King and a few other authors say that I’m not crazy... that they go to live in their characters’ world at this stage in the game, too. But perhaps they’re in denial, and I’m just in good company.