The Adventure of Writing by Judy Alter
I
confess. I am an unrepentant pantser, with only occasional regrets. I have
heard writers say they simply sat down—in the day at a typewriter, I suppose,
and today at the computer—wrote that first sentence, and took off from there, as
curious as future readers would be to see what would happen. I’m not quite that
bad. I have notes and rough ideas of what’s going to happen on the pages of the
work-in-progress, but those ideas usually change dramatically as I write.
Right
now, I’m working on a Blue Plate Café cozy set in a small Texas town and
involving a thirty-year-old unsolved murder. I’m in the soggy middle, and the
other day I was semi-stumped, writing some desultory background material,
mostly to keep going. Most of it will probably come out in first draft.
And
then suddenly, one character asked the other a direct, blunt question, and the
entire direction of the last half of the novel changed, much for the better. I
know where it is going, but I can’t attribute that sudden epiphany to any
conscious effort on my part. It was all in that character’s question.
A
couple of days later I was writing a scene in the café that is central to the
series, when suddenly two strangers walked in, seated themselves, and began to
visit. They were from Ohio on a back-roads tour of the American West, looking
for interesting, out-of-the-way sites and towns. They stopped in Wheeler
because of the old murder and a brand new one. What are they going to do in
Wheeler? Will they become part of the story or move quickly on, their curiosity
satisfied? I have no idea.
The
late Elmer Kelton, iconic Texas novelist, used to caution, “Listen to your
characters, and they’ll tell you where your book is going.” He told the story
of his classic novel, The Wolf and the
Buffalo. He sat down at his computer intending to write the story of a
former slave who became a Buffalo soldier. His life was an upward arc. But
there was a Comanche chief who just wouldn’t stay out of the action. Fighting
against the encroachment of Anglo civilization on his tribal lands, his life
was in a downward spiral. Despite Elmer’s best efforts, Gray Horse Running would
not stay out of the action, and the award-winning book became the parallel stories
of two men, one building a new world and the other losing his traditional
world.
I
know some authors plan out every page of work before they sit down to write, so
that by the time they finish their outline, they have the book written. The
actual writing is sort of like filling in the blanks—that method reminds me of
paint-by-numbers, because it takes all the spontaneity and the joy out of
writer. Other writers rely on computer programs to help them plot and keep
track of scenes. To me, writing is an organic, living process, with a fluidity
that changes constantly. Machines, no matter how sophisticated, can’t do that.
One author, who scoffed at the idea of characters telling him where his book
was going, was both a writing teacher and a prolific writer. “It’s my book, and
I will decide what’s happening,” he proclaimed. I never hear about his books
today. I do hear about Elmer’s work.
Over
the years, characters have given me all kinds of surprises, from skeletons to
hidden stashes of marijuana and a secret dungeon beneath the floorboards of a
dining room. When you set out to write a cozy, you never know what will happen.
But these days, when I have 30,000 words on a cozy and think I can never
possibly get even another 30,000, I keep going because I know the light will
hit. A sudden inspiration will send me sailing into the last chapters.
I
don’t particularly like to travel, and I have friends who think that’s
downright peculiar Don’t I want the sense of adventure, of discovering new
places and people? I tell them I have enough similar adventures sitting at my
computer. And I’m convinced those adventures keep me young.
Excuse
me now, but I’ve got to go see what those two strangers are doing in Wheeler.
--Judy Alter
Judy
Alter is the author of six books in the Kelly O’Connell Mysteries, two books in the Blue Plate Café
Mysteries; and two in the Oak Grove Mysteries. Pigface and the Perfect Dog follows The Perfect Coed in this series of mysteries set on a university
campus. Judy is no stranger
to college campuses. She attended the University of Chicago, Truman State
University in Missouri, and Texas Christian University, where she earned a
Ph.D. and taught English. For twenty years, she was director of TCU Press, the
book publishing program of the university. The author of many books for both
children and adults primarily on women of the American West, she retired in
2010 and turned her attention to writing contemporary cozy mysteries.
She holds awards from
the Western Writers of America, the National Cowboy Museum and Hall of Fame,
and the Texas Institute of Letters. She was inducted into the Texas Literary
Hall of Fame and recognized as an Outstanding Woman of Fort Worth and a woman
who has left her mark on Texas. Western Writers of America gave her the Owen
Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement and will induct her into its Hall of Fame
in June 2015.
The single parent of
four and the grandmother of seven, she lives in Fort Worth, Texas, with her
perfect dog, Sophie.
Follow her at
(Amazon) http://www.amazon.com/Judy-Alter/e/B001H6NMU6/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1377217817&sr=1-2-ent
her blog: http://www.judys-stew.blogspot.com
Buy link for Pigface and the Perfect Dog:
Buy link for The Color of Fear:
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