RJ Harlick: Beyond Creative Writing 101

Lobbing balls and grenades; the art (or lack of it) of storytelling

Well, I’ve done it. I’ve finished the first draft of A Green Place for Dying, the next Meg Harris mystery. And what a tremendous feeling of satisfaction it gives me, particularly when all those balls and the grenade or two I tossed into the story have landed. I won’t say they landed as planned, because when I toss these balls and grenades, I have no idea where or how they will land.

I’m one of those writers who doesn’t outline. Like they teach in Creative Writing 101, I tried to develop plot and character outlines for the first couple of Meg Harris mysteries, but I found that within a couple of chapters Meg was leading me way off course and into much more exciting places than I had thought possible and characters were leaping out of the pages just daring me to include them. So I tossed all thought of outlining out the window and now let Meg tell her story.

I do, however, usually give her some direction, like starting with an overarching theme. For A Green Place for Dying the theme I chose is one that is fast becoming a growing and alarming issue in Canada, the high rate of missing aboriginal women, over 500, and the fact that little is being done about it. I felt it was an issue that Meg could tackle as she searches for the missing daughter of a friend from the Migiskan Reserve and quickly runs up against the brick wall of police indifference.

Of course, I already have my main character, Meg, which is the fun part of writing a series. With each new book in the series, I get to know Meg better as I watch her grow and deepen as a person. I can also lob balls related to something in her life, past and present, that may not land until a later book in the series. In A Green Place for Dying, two balls, one perhaps more a grenade, that were tossed into the stories of previous books, now finally land back into Meg’s life.

I generally identify a few key supporting characters, although most will make themselves known as the story progresses. In this fifth book, one such character is Marie-Claude, her friend who struggles to deal with her guilt over the disappearance of her daughter, and another is Summer Grass Woman, an elder who helps Meg face her demons.

Finally I look for a starting place, a riveting scene that will launch the story, one that will draw the reader in and one that will provide me with enough fodder to expand and grow the story. This latest book starts off with Meg, along with women from the reserve, attending a Grandmother Moon Ceremony to seek spiritual guidance in dealing with the disappearance of Marie-Claude’s daughter. Partway through the ceremony, a policewoman arrives to say that a body of a young aboriginal woman has been found. And thus the story begins.

Although I generally have a rough idea where the story is headed and how I want it to end, I essentially write from chapter to chapter and adjust the story as I progress. This is when I start lobbing balls and grenades, such as another body or a sudden twist in the plot. Generally I throw them to see what will happen. I have absolutely no idea where or how they will land or even if they will land. But this is the fun part of writing, a lot like life with lots of hidden bumps and detours along the way. Without them writing, and life, would be very boring.

As I near the end of the book, the balls and grenades begin landing, sometimes furiously and often in wholly unexpected ways. And as each one lands, I yell, “Yes, that worked perfectly” or I cringe and say, “Nope, it doesn’t work” and I’ll get rid of it in the revisions. But when they do land in a way that totally fits in with the story, it gives me a particularly good feeling of achievement. And I will say, that I am particularly pleased with the way some of these balls landed in A Green Place for Dying.

Let’s face it, that is what writing is all about, obtaining a wonderful sense of achievement in having created a story, people and a world that lives and breathes not only in your mind but also in your readers’ minds. And all from something as static as ‘words’.

Ottawa author, RJ Harlick, writes the Meg Harris mystery series set in the wilds of Quebec. Like her heroine Meg Harris, RJ loves nothing better than to roam the forests surrounding her own wilderness cabin, But unlike Meg, she doesn’t find a body at every twist and turn, although she certainly likes to put them in Meg’s way. Arctic Blue Death, the 4th in the series was nominated for this year's Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel. A Green Place for Dying is due out Spring 2011. 

Getting Organized with Robin Spano

Keeping Things Straight

I love writing. There’s nothing more awesome for me than waking up to a day that I can selfishly spend with my characters at my computer. I brew some coffee, I look out at the mountains, and I open my story.

But love is not enough. Writing a novel is fun, and it wakes up your soul. But it can be frustrating, depressing, and it requires a million little skills that don’t typically go together. You need to be creative (to dream up the plot, and roll with it as it rolls along), empathetic (to relate to your characters, even when they do awful things), logical (a good murder mystery needs to make sense on a lot of levels), and - here’s my challenge - you need to be organized.

I’ve just broken ground on the third book in my series. My second is in post-production (the editing phase, where outside eyes give me kick-ass ideas I would never have dreamed up alone). And my first, Dead Politician Society, has just hit shelves.

I’ve learned some things from my first two books that make writing the third a lot easier. Here are a few:

NAVIGATION PANE: I always leave this up beside my story so I can visually see where I’m working. I use headings for:

• Chapters: I give them labels that will never see print (like “Clare Drunk in Anger” or “Disinformation Scam Begins”) so I can quickly find the part I want to work on.
• Days/Dates: I’ve cleared up several glitches by glancing up at the day from the chapter I’m working on, like once when Clare said she was off to class, but it was Sunday.
• Weather: On rain days, I give my characters umbrellas. I do not (as I nearly did once, but caught because of the navigation pane heading) have them riding their motorcycles, unless they’re feeling self-destructive that day.

If you’re moving around a lot, like in an exciting spy novel, you could add things like cities. I take these headings out before submitting to my publisher. But while I’m writing, the navigation helps me skip confidently around my novel, controlling it instead of it confusing me.

OUTLOOK PROFILES: This was my husband’s crafty idea. I’m writing a series. I’m bringing characters from book to book. But how can I remember if Amanda has short blond hair or long blond hair? Does Cloutier have one kid or two? Every time I write a detail about a character—physique, car model, childhood ambition—it goes in their Outlook profile. I have a contact list called “Characters.” So if I’m working on book three and I want to bring Matthew Easton back from book one (I probably won’t), I can check out everything I’ve written about him and be up to speed. It also tells me what I can still invent. If I’ve never given someone a car or family background, I can.

AFTER-THE-FACT-OUTLINE: I don’t write with an outline—I’m way more interested in watching characters interact freely. But once I have a first draft, I list the chapters in order and summarize each one’s key points. If I have a chapter that’s sitting around doing nothing but develop characters (no plot forwarding, no scintillating new clues) this is when the chapter gets killed, expanded, or merged. This is also a good way to make sure your plot and subplots line up neatly: you can see, visually, at what point different clues have been revealed, and when your subplots come together.

DETAILING: Filler words: they clutter up a story and slow down the action. And I use them all the time. So right at the end, before I submit to my publisher, I plug words like “just,” “totally,” “a little,” and other modifiers into the search tool. In Dead Politician Society, I lost a thousand words in about an hour this way. This helps me ensure that if a filler word is in my manuscript, it’s there by design, not by default.

The further I move into my crime writing career, the more I plan to enjoy it. By developing these tips and tricks to overcome the parts I’m not naturally good at, I’m freeing myself to focus on the parts I love: the characters and the dialogue.

Here’s hoping this is useful to other scatterbrains out there.

Robin Spano is a crime writer and motorcycle enthusiast. She lives in Steveston, BC with her husband, Keith. Her first book, Dead Politician Society, was released at the beginning of September.

www.robinspano.com