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| Picture from Pixabay |
As a kid, did you look forward to the beginning of school each year? I loved getting the new pencils, the sharp crayons, and the pristine tablet (that’s what we called a pad of paper). There was the art smock (one of Dad’s old shirts), a few new dresses, and new shoes. And all of that came before even setting foot in the new classroom and meeting the new teacher and classmates, being assigned a desk, given textbooks. So exciting! Not to mention the challenge of navigating a whole new school if you’d relocated or moved up to middle school or high school.
Starting a new stand-alone book or a new series is
something like starting a new school year. Think of all that shiny excitement
in front of you—and the cold worry of the unknown. If you can relax and go with
the shiny flow, you’ll be in good shape. But sometimes fear of the unknown
swamps us, paralyzes us, reduces us to tears like a frightened child entering preschool
or kindergarten. I hope I exaggerate about the tears, but it’s no small thing for
a child or a writer to enter a new world.
When I started work on my new Haunted Shell Shop
mystery series, I began from the perspective of a quiet, observant student. I
walked down school halls, with their freshly waxed floors, watching and listening
as people jostled and greeted each other. I heard snippets of their what-I-did-over-summer-vacation
stories.
The first person I came face to face with was Emrys
Lloyd. Actually, I walked through him because, as it turns out, he’s a ghost—the
ghost of an accidental pirate. Then I met Maureen Nash, someone interested in freshwater
mollusks and seashells. She showed me around my new setting and introduced me
to Pat Crowley, a National Park ranger. Pat doesn’t ruffle easily and is
willing to bend rules if the recipient of that bending promises to keep quiet
about it. Maureen also introduced me to the elderly siblings Glady and Burt
Weaver, Allan Withrow, who owns a shell shop, and Deputy Frank Brown, a
conundrum. Maureen and I got along so well that I decided to let her narrate
the new series and I took over the role of teacher.
As the teacher, I make lesson plans (an outline) that keep
the situation on track (although pages of plans go out the window on any given
day). I also have access to background information on the characters (which is
fun because I’m nosy and like knowing things about them) and I get to have
individual conferences with them. I also have a grade book! Do teachers have
them anymore? Back in the 60s grade books were the coolest thing and the source
of student envy. My grade book is really several Excel spreadsheets, and I
don’t record grades in them. I keep track of the story’s clues, red herrings,
and continuity, and I keep track of the story’s progress to make sure I’ll meet
my deadline.
I did meet the deadline for book one in the Haunted
Shell Shop series. Now it’s time to start school again. I have a January
deadline for another book in the Whistle Stop Café mystery series. Exciting
times!
Writers, how do you go about getting to know your
characters and setting?
It's always interesting to get a peek into your mindset, Molly. As a fykk-fledged pantser, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about characters before I need them. Some minor characters wander into my manuscripts fully formed. Other characters let me in on their secrets a bit at a time. And some I need to take extraordinary methods to peel off their well-developed shells and learn what motivates them and what events shaped them to be who they have become.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful process. The image of walking down the hall on the first day of school is priceless. My main character or the victim usually come to me first. Then a lot of what if and why questions follow. Sometimes these introduce new characters, other times characters will arrive as needed.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun way to get acquainted with the setting and characters of a new novel!
ReplyDeleteI find my characters just kind of show up and tell me what I need to know. Often in a somewhat argumentative way.
I start with a visual image--two women, one tall, one short, walking in a snowy landscape just after sunrise.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back and good luck with your next book!
What a wonderful piece, Molly! I especially love the part about the lesson plans sometimes flying out the window. I was a teacher for a long, long time, and I'd never thought of applying that analogy to my writing. It makes me feel a lot better about those times the outline shifts.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it fun to see all the different ways to begin a story? They're similar yet different. Jim, I like the image of peeling off a character's well-developed shell. Do you ever think of them as tough nuts and take a hammer to them? Kait, the what if and why questions are so important. KM, I'd love to watch you wrestling with those argumentative characters. Some of them get awfully bossy, don't they? Margaret, I love that image - so simple, so evocative, so open-ended. Oh, Lori, all those well-laid plans - up in smoke, out the window, down the drain - life.
ReplyDelete