Friday, December 15, 2006

Plotting WHERE DRAGONS LIVE

(Huck says, I think I'll just take a nap, okay?)

This is my favorite part of the writing process: plotting. It’s fun. I can’t say it’s “pure” fun, because there’s still angst and frustration and worry involved, but this is the stage at which I get excited, I laugh, I first experience the wonderful bubbling surge of energy and passion that will carry me through the next 10-12 months of actual writing.

WHERE DRAGONS LIVE is the working title of what will be the fourth book in my Sebastian St. Cyr Historical Mystery Series. I know I won’t be able to keep this title because the word “dragons” makes the book sound like a fantasy rather than a Regency mystery. But I need something to call it other than The Book, so until I come up with something the marketing department will like better, WDL it is.

All writers do some things well by instinct, while other aspects of their craft are learned. I’ve been told I create wonderful, memorable characters; it’s one of the things I do by instinct and as a result I would have a hard time ever writing an article entitled “How To Create Memorable Characters.” But when I first started writing, I wrestled with the plotting stage. I’ve spent a lot of time in the past fifteen or more years reading about plotting and thinking about plotting. As a result, I could write an entire book on the subject.

I won’t bore you to that extent, but over the next week or so I thought I’d take you along on my plotting odyssey.

Bon voyage.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The plotting part, or coming up with the story, is the most enjoyable for me too. I think because it's just raw creativity. I'd be very interesting in reading your future pieces about plotting. I think it's clearly a weakness of mine.

Anonymous said...

And I really hate plotting...which may be why I have so much trouble writing fiction. With nonfiction, the "plot"--the pattern of the story--is there for you, you just have to put the pieces in order. In fiction, you have to create the pieces. I guess that's why, whenever I sit down to try to write fiction, I end up writing some type of nonfiction instead. For me, it's the easy way out.

cs harris said...

Actually, sphinx ink, I think writers of nonfiction "create" their own patterns; work with students who have no experience writing and that will quickly become apparent! Evidently that nonfiction patterning is so obvious to you that you don't realize that you are creating it, effortlessly and without thought. Part of that is probably training, part experience, part raw talent. If you can't simply relax and trust your instincts with fiction, a more structured approach might help.

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