Lessons Learned About Writing by Patricia A. Guthrie
Good morning and thank you for
allowing me to be here. I'd like to share some of the hard-earned lessons
I've discovered over many painful years of writing and discarding novels.
Just ask my computer. It has to store those painful memories.
After four failed attempts and
two published books, "In the Arms of the Enemy" and "Waterlilies
Over My Grave" I've learned many vital lessons. Probably the
most important is:
Research, research, research.
After the first of the year and
my yearly New Year's Resolutions, I decided to take my own (and others') advice
and put myself to the test. I cleaned out and organized my computer. I
cleaned out lots of old websites and blogspot addresses, many which no longer
existed, and I waded through some of my (and others') old writing articles. I
thought about the value of research and how much time it would save when we
wrote our novels.
So here goes: the value of
researching our novels.
We know (pretty much) what our
major themes will be, where our novels take place, who our characters are and
where they live, whether an apartment, house, cave, boat. Don't we?
We have a vague idea (unless
we're really brilliant and we're a great panzer or have figured out the joys of
outlining) what will happen to them throughout the course of the book. Where
will the plot take these made-up beings? What is your story is trying
to tell you. What is its theme? We do know that novels are trying to
tell its reader something, don't we?
We also know that our characters
have goals, why they have these goals and what stops them from achieving their
goals. Then the all-important resolution. How do they overcome these
conflicts. (the all important: goal, motivation and conflict. Thank you Debra
Dixon for that title.)
But, do we know, I mean really
know who our characters are?
What are their character traits?
We all have certain traits, things we do out of habit or mind set. Why is
that important? Because our habits and personality show us how we'll respond in
situations. An example: My character Elena Dkany has a habit of walking
out of uncomfortable situations, especially when she's angry. In "Legacy
of Danger", she walks out on such a situation and gets kidnapped. If I
didn't show that side earlier, it wouldn't have made her response to this
flight and fight for her life scene realistic. We might think, "Huh?
Where did that come from?"
There's also their manner of
dress. You don't want a cowgirl type lady who wears jeans to suddenly appear in
frilly dresses (except for special occasions where she wants to impress
someone.) What do they wear? Is she especially fond of black?
What about their appearance? Does
she have strawberry blonde hair and green eyes? So, will we forget and make her
eyes blue in chapter 20? I know, because I did that to Maggie in "In the
Arms of the Enemy." Had to go back and check those eye colors--and hair
color. Strawberry blonde is not auburn, no matter how many ways you want to
describe it and some brilliant reader will catch it. Trust me.
What about their histories? How
well are they educated and where? Who were their parents? Alive? Dead? You
don't want a dead father coming to the rescue in chapter 30. And being educated
or not educated will give you volumes of dialogue opportunities not to mention
how your characters will handle the challenges they face.
Foreshadowing in a novel is
important. In Waterlilies Over My Grave there is a constant foreshadow of water
in the poem the killer keeps reciting "Annabelle Lee." Annie is
staying in a house by a lake. In "Arms of the Enemy" the killer is
foreshadowed in the prologue. That includes research, also.
What about the villain? Who is
he? Why does he target who he's after? Is he a serial killer? What makes a
serial killer? Research. What triggered their mad responses to life? Do
they have any good in them? If you want him/her to be three dimensional and
come alive they'd better have a good side as well as the bad. In Waterlilies
Over My Grave, the villain Duncan Byrne saved a girls life when her sole support
and a roof-over-her-head dies. The fact that he later tries to push her in
front of a train doesn't help his image any and shows his insanity.
Back to where they are. In
"Legacy of Danger" my work in progress, much of the novel takes place
in Romania. Romania has earthquakes. As a reader, you need to know, maybe from
dialogue and history that earthquakes took place hundreds of years ago and that
they'd had one recently. That will make a later scene more viable when the
characters run into one trying to escape. (great way to kill off a bad guy).
In other words, if someone is
killed with a sword, you'd better show the thing hanging on the wall over
the fireplace, otherwise, where the heck did it come from? (I read
that somewhere and have remembered it throughout the years.)
You get the idea.
Research can be tedious, but it can also be fascinating. Writing about Romania
has been a "writing" lifetime of experiences. I never was in that
country, but I did live in Germany for a few years. And, I've done research on
the culture. The old farmer driving his cows home in the shadow of a mountain
with a cross and a small chapel on its peak. It was a glorious picture.
So, do a casting call. Find a star
or celebrity you could picture as your character and tack him and her on your
wall. Write down your descriptions from the color of their hair, their eyes,
their clothes, their hobbies, favorite meals and drinks, favorite colors, to
their history and everyday lives and put the page(s) in a notebook or someplace
you can get quick access.
You'll be glad you did.
My web address is:
www.patriciaanneguthrie.com
blogspot is: www.paguthrie.blogspot.com
Thank you, Patricia for visiting us today.
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