Counting today and the following two Fridays, I'll be posting some notes I made while writing my first novel in The Osgoode Trilogy, Conduct in Question. They're notes about what I learned along the way about writing novels. My ideas may not work for anyone else, but they did for me.
Please enjoy and do let me know what tips you've got to share.
The First Draft.
What a “high” seeing those three hundred pages stacked up on the desk—the first draft! I always wanted to print out the manuscript because it gave me such a sense of accomplishment just to see it.
How long did it take? Three months—a year—ten years? When the last page chugged out of my wheezing printer, I must have gazed in awe at it for at least ten minutes. It was the first glimpse of my new born. But how did it get there? It’s a serious question you need to answer because the hard work of revision and edits lies ahead.
What did I learn from completing the manuscript? I vividly remember the steps along the way. After completing the first fifty pages, I came to a screeching halt in writing Conduct in Question, the first in The Osgoode Trilogy. That entire novel is posted here on Wattpad and many of you have read it.
But I had absolutely no idea where to go next. I racked my brain for plot ideas and called upon my muse who remained sullen and stubbornly silent.
Yes, I had created a lawyer, Harry Jenkins, the protagonist who would eventually grow big enough and complex enough to fill three novels. I had created the beautiful Natasha, Harry’s beloved and I had burdened him with a churlish secretary, Miss Giveny. But I didn’t know what they’d do next.
Then the light went on. I realized I didn’t know enough about these people. The cast members were onstage—Harry’s elderly client Miss Marjorie Deighton and her strange family members Katharine, Suzannah and Gerry. Worse yet, although I had created the villain, The Florist, I didn’t really know what made him or any of them tick.
What to do? At last the answer came to me. I spent about a month making notes on a yellow legal pad .[I was doing other things such as practising law and raising three children]. I can see that pad now. I listed each character and wrote down as much as I could think up for each one. I started with their physical appearance, mannerisms, tone of voice, how they walked and moved through life. Where did he or she live? What sorts of relationships did they have? Whom did they love? Whom did they hate? What motivated each one of them. Was his temperament extraverted or introverted? Who was honest and who was deceitful? Who was violent and who was peaceful? I could go on, but you get the idea. By the time I ran out of thoughts, I had a thick file.
How could such an exercise help? I certainly wasn’t planning a novel of only description. I needed plot ideas. But here’s the interesting part. Once I had written everything I could imagine about the characters, they—like dolls from the toy chest at night—climbed out and began to play. They started telling me what they were going to do. Some were very adamant and argumentative. But that was not really so surprising. If you are creating real characters, real people, sooner or later they will speak up for themselves.
After that I raced on for the next fifty pages, until I came to another bump in the road. Convinced I was on to a good trick, I began the note making again. I wrote down everything I could possibly imagine about them. And it worked! I saw my way through quite a number of chapters.
You may be wondering—why didn’t I make a plot outline from beginning to end. Because that doesn’t work for me. I like to mess around with all these characters and grow them from the roots up. That especially applies to events or plots. On the theory that one thing leads to another, I let those characters lead the way.
Now this process works for me, but it may not for you. Everyone has to find his or her own way of working and I really believe that this kind of creativity can’t be taught. You have to figure it out yourself. If you do then it really is an expression of you.
No character can come alive on the page unless I know him or her really well. If you get to know them really well, maybe those characters will tell what they’re going, But you’ll hear them only if you listen carefully. Then you know the toys have come out at night to play.
Don't forget to share your tips about how to get the first draft.
Next week, [the 19th of October] I'll be posting about the second draft.
On the third Friday, the 24th of October, I'll be talking about the writer's voice.
