What Comes First when You are Writing?

There's no iron-clad rule saying what comes first when you are writing. There are people who outline an entire book - they may also create complex histories for their characters and descriptions of every scene.

Personally, I start with a situation. I throw my characters into it and see how they develop and deal with it. In Tough Times, I wanted a teenage boy to deal with taking on responsibility for his young siblings, with racial issues on top. In Running Away: Maggie's Story, the situation I wanted to show was one I encountered when I was a probation officer for teenage girls - several of them had been abused by someone the mother brought into the home and, because they'd been acting out, their mothers didn't believe them. In both those stories, the characters kicked in and dealt with the situations in ways I'd kind of expected.

That doesn't always happen. When I started writing Peg's Story: Detours, I knew she was Maggie's mom, she'd run away at the same age, and her parents thought she was dead for ten years. I wasn't sure why she ran away or why it took her so long to go home, but I thought she'd pretty much follow my detours through my twenties. Well, as I met her parents and her best friend (secondary characters), the reasons for running away fell into place. But when she got to the bus station, Peg took over and became her own character with her own story - she shocked me so much I put the story aside for months. Then I saw women who had been trafficked being interviewed, and I recognized Peg. I still got to use a few bits from my own journey, but her story is definitely not mine and not at all what I'd expected.

In On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King says "The situation comes first." (p. 164) and that he lets the characters take the lead as they develop.

Nice to know it's not just me.

Sometimes a character takes over the story

In On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King says that sometimes characters "begin to influence the course of the story instead of the other way around" (p. 190) and "every character you create is partly you." (p. 191)

It's always nice to have a highly successful writer reflect my own experience. Every character has a bit of the writer in there - even villains. But sometimes a character develops in unexpected ways and takes over the story.

When I started writing Peg's Story: Detours, I was identifying strongly with Peg. While her initial relationships and situations were different from my experience, her feelings and reactions were what I'd expect mine would be in her place - until she got to the bus station and I found her behaving in ways that absolutely shocked me.

The character had taken over. I couldn't force her into behaving differently - it wouldn't fit. Knowing people always think I'm writing about myself, I was too embarrassed to continue. The manuscript got put away for many months.

Then I saw a documentary in which they interviewed women who had been trafficked, and I realized that was Peg's story - the man at the bus station wasn't just another sleaze, he was a trafficker targeting a traumatized girl to draw her into his stable.

Yes, I left home (when I was almost twenty) and took a bus to Harrisburg and my fiance, and we went through the same storm Peg experiences. However, my fiance was not a pimp; we got married that summer and moved to a college town.

Throughout the rest of the novel, I use experiences from my twenties (like sailing on San Francisco Bay) but put them into the context of Peg's journey, not mine. I also throw in a good bit I never experienced first-hand, but researched thoroughly. In the end, it's Peg's story, her detours. I like to think the part of her that is me is the part that gives her the resilience she needs.

How Much Description

In On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King says "Description begins in the writer's imagination, but should finish in the reader's." (p. 174).

It was a relief to read that, as I am generally spare in my description - giving the reader elements of the environment that are key to the story or the character's experience and leaving the rest to the reader's personal experience.

However, I recently submitted a piece to a critique group that led to my introduction to the term "White Room Syndrome" - I had jumped straight into dialogue and gave no hint of the setting for the better part of a page. I knew where the characters were, but I had neglected to tell the reader!

Now I am re-reading King's 11/22/63 and he is not the least bit spare in his description. His character travels back in time and shares his full sensory experience of the era - lots of details, since the story is about the experience of living in a different time - but not every detail. Where a writer loses me is when there are paragraphs on end that give minute detail about the setting and costuming and little or nothing about the story. As King also says in On Writing, "it's not about the setting, anyway--it's about the story, and it's always about the story." (p. 176)