The Solitude, part 5

The good news* is that some of us have been given permission to return to our usual way of life, our old habits, the normal things we are used to doing. For me, that includes the launching of my latest novel, EXCHANGE, which has been delayed because of the changing circumstances of life in general. I lovingly describe it as a crime thriller because it involves a big crime followed by on-going crimes and the main character has to keep trying to deal with the cascade of trouble. Mostly it's about the issue of gun violence in America. (More on that touchy subject next time.)

*The bad news, by the way, is that some of us haven't yet been given permission - as though we are in kindergarten and need to ask the teacher for permission to go by ourselves to the restroom!

For this week, I need to rush headlong into the next step in my writing process, a process I paid attention to while writing EXCHANGE, just so I could tell you about it.

Part 5

When I'm heading into the middle of the book, it is subplot time. Some of those are already part of the original idea, the obstacles the protagonist must overcome. Others are just some seeds I toss in hoping to harvest later in the book. Often they do not blossom so I must go back during revision and rip them out.

Depending on the genre, I might make a rough outline of events, at least chapter by chapter as I go, or I will simply press ahead and let the story unfold in whatever manner it does, almost as though I am merely taking dictation from the muses in my head. I like that feature of writing: letting it happen. If you read enough you get a sense for how a story should unfold and get a feel for the timing of things happening.

There seem to be patterns we absorb as readers that stay in our heads to shape plots and enforce genre demands. This allows me to skip a formal outline or detailed plotting. If I need to, I will slow down and write some short ideas about a scene, but I seldom do more than that. If a difficult-to-write scene is coming up, I may take a break from writing while I think it through in my head, or sometimes do some research. (I'll keep the story in my head during this time by editing what I've previously written.) Because I tend to get into the head of my protagonist and try to think like him/her (thanks Acting 101 class in college!), I feel the same emotions as my protagonist (or whichever character I'm writing), so it often takes an emotional toll on me. Yes, sometimes I cry when I've made my characters do something bad and feel proud when they do something good.

Along with subplots - which, for me, will come to fruition alternating with main storyline scenes - are other characters. Pretty standard for me: protagonist (narrator), sidekick or assistant, love interest, but I do not usually have a true antagonist or villain. I believe firmly in the antagonist being a protagonist in his/her own mind. Only in my vampire trilogy do I have a true villain bent on destroying the hero. In most of my books, what hinders the protagonist are elements of nature or other people just getting in the way, not really seeking destruction. That seems more realistic to me, even in an epic fantasy.  

So this takes me two-thirds of the way into the story - where I need to start planning how to stick the landing. Because I usually already know how the story will end, it is simply a matter of wrapping up storylines, as I do in Part 6.

NEXT: The climax. And maybe a complete explication of why I wrote EXCHANGE.


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