It's All In Your Point Of View

by Janis Patterson

People who don’t write don’t believe that stories and characters take on a life of their own, and if you don’t agree with them the story stops. Writers know what I mean. 

Now my writing process, I have been told, is different from most others’. There are many ways to write - plot wheels, detailed outlines, multi-page character interviews, etc. To me personally, that is the fastest way to kill a story. By the time I have plotted it I am bored with it. Now I do have a general idea of the basic construction of the story - a beginning, a probable end, a couple of major plot points - and then the characters come. Yes, come, just like real people. They walk into my mind, tell me their names and all about themselves. The stories come to life through the interactions of these people.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. I’ve had characters - fully formed, believable people - not like a turn the story has taken and shut down the entire process. One hero, who was perfect for the story, was insistent on a certain name. A name I hated, and immediately changed. He didn’t like that, and refused to talk to me. The story stalled and none of the techniques I’ve learned over the last decades made it work. Finally I surrendered, changed his name back to the one I hated and the story flowed like warm cream. It is one of my best sellers.

But there is more to a good story than storyline and characters. There is viewpoint. Is the story told in first person or third? Or even in that modern horror - second? I have been known to return a book when I find it is told in second person. Is it traditional indefinite past tense (I went to the store...) to the other modern horror, present tense (I go to the store)? I always return a book when it is in present tense. A most definite personal choice.

Once I was working on a story - a novella - with a good strong storyline, good visuals, great characters and even a good moral. Working is the right term. Normally I’m a very fast writer. This time ... not. I was struggling. Oh, I was writing, but slowly. Word. By. Painful. Word. Sort of like pulling long-rooted teeth.

Life happens, though, and everyday things must be done. One day I was running errands and a traffic back-up from a wreck kept me sitting in the same spot for a quarter of an hour. Well, a writer is always writing, so while my body waited for the wreck ahead to be cleared my mind went to work on the story.

How, I thought, would I feel in such a spot? What if the man I loved was in such danger? I’d...

Then it hit me. I was using the wrong person for the book. I had been writing in third person, and it just didn’t work. This book should be in first person. 

Now my personal preference is and always has been first person; to me it is more engaging and intimate, making the reader a part of the story whereas third has an inherent distance. However, there seems to be such a backlash of dislike of first person that I often write in third. This story, though, demanded first.

I had a little over 12,000 words already written. Not necessarily very good words, but a good solid first draft. It had taken me several weeks to get that far, and the deadline was approaching with the delicacy and hesitancy of a runaway train. Still, I had a feeling...

It took me two days to rewrite that 12,000+ manuscript into first person and then it took less than a week to finish the book. It worked. And it’s still one of my most popular books!

For those of you following my republishing blitz, all is going just as planned. I think we’re all defeated by the heat, so both September’s releases are Christmastide Regency romances - September 13ths was called THE RESURRECTION OF REGINA and  CHRISTMAS TANGLE comes out on September 27. Believe it or not, this blitz is almost over - next month is the end of it. And... if you’re in the mood for Halloween I’m fortunate enough to be part of the wonderful Kate Hill’s Halloween promotion which goes live October 1st! The link is https://kate-hill.com/halloweenpage/participating-authors/janis-susan-may/

Surprise!

 by Janis Patterson

One of the saddest things about an inadequate education is the ability to remember quotes but not be sure about who said them.

One of my favorites is “No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.” I think it was Robert Frost who said it, but don’t quote me on that.

I suppose I should give you a disclaimer – I am a thoroughgoing and proud pantser. I work on what I call the suspension bridge system, meaning I know where the story starts, and approximately where it ends, and a couple of plot points in the middle. Then the rest is just putting in more plot points where they’re needed and stringing the story webwork in between. Half the time I don’t know what’s going to happen next.

Like every writer, I have friends who are devout plotters. They fill out multi-page character sheets, detailing everything from his grandmother’s maiden name to his favorite flavor of Jell-O. Then they do scene-by-scene outlines, practically noting every time a main character raises an eyebrow. They say it keeps them on track and makes them more efficient. I’ve tried it (I’m always open to ways to improve my craft) and all it made me was bored. Incredibly bored and sleepy. In one class I plotted minutely what should have been a very interesting book about terrorism, antiquities smuggling and dirty bombs. Sad, but it’s a book that will never be written. By the time I finished the outline I was soooo bored with it that it will never be written. By me, at least.

Is dedicated pantsing fraught with potential problems? Of course, but then so is rigid plotting. So is any kind of putting words in a string to tell a story, however you do it. Sometimes I hit a wall and have to back up, but surprisingly rarely. My personal belief is that a good book grows organically – that each action/scene grows logically out of what has gone before. Sometimes it takes me a while to go from one point to another, but not often. It’s really easier than it looks, and your characters – if they are real people and not just cardboard puppets – will tell you what to do. My characters just walk in, tell me their name and what they will and will not do. If I try to go against their will, they stage a silent sit-in strike until I give in, which I usually do. 

Case in point : in my current work in progress, I realized that I had to have a character deliver a crucial piece of information about a series of murders. Only problem was, this character had been the first victim, and ghosts didn’t fit into this story. Last night at dinner (The Husband treated me to a luscious hamburger at our favorite place) I was chatting about the story, and he was listening most politely, when all of a sudden the penny dropped and I knew what had to be done. The expression on my face must have been remarkable, because The Husband looked up, startled, and asked if I was all right.

“The brother! It’s the brother.”

Well, he doesn’t have a brother, and mine died many years ago, so he became much more alarmed about my mental health. After all the years we’ve been married he should know better, but… Immediately I explained that the first victim had a brother, who may or may not be killed himself after delivering the important piece of information my sleuth needed. The Husband’s comment? “Oh.”

Once I tried to explain my working process to The Husband, who is a science-oriented military man. He listened politely, then said, “Sounds like possession.” Maybe he’s right. Whatever it is, it works for me.

One last note – this organically-grown, pantsing way of writing is not, repeat NOT, a license to drag in unrelated action or utilize the dreaded (and unbelievable) Deus ex Machina to solve everything. Neither can you blame a convenient wandering homicidal maniac who has been unheard of until the final chapter. Your clues have to be there. You have to play fair with the reader and give them enough so that – if they are quick and clever – they have a chance to solve the mystery. (You don’t have to dump the solution in their laps, though!) It’s not necessarily easy, but it is very satisfying for both writer and reader.

Just remember – no surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader. And surprises keep things interesting, don’t they?

The Magic Click

by Janis Patterson

Just to be upfront, know that I am a pantser. When I start a book I have a vague idea of what the basic shape of the story is, but the idea of writing from a detailed outline not only makes me break out from stress, it also effectively kills any kind of creativity. In other words, I am bored with the story before it even begins.

I admit my style of writing has its pitfalls. Sometimes I simply sit and stare at the screen while it stares back at me. Sometimes an entire day’s work simply must be deleted because it just doesn’t take the story where I want it to go. To be honest, though, I have had the same problems when, during my ghostwriting career, I had no choice but to work from a detailed outline.

Pantser or plotter, there’s only one solution for when you hit a wall like that – write. Put one word down after another, again and again, repeat as necessary, until you have something on paper. If it has to be rewritten or even discarded later, you have something to work with, a base from which you can go forward. It’s not the dream of writing, nor is it the easiest task, but it is something every professional writer can do. Eventually the wall dissolves and the way becomes easier again. 

And sometimes there is the Magic Click, that wonderful moment when everything falls into place and the book flows like molten butter. You suddenly know exactly where everything is going, what clues to put in, what is going to happen two or ten chapters down the road, sometimes all the way to the end of the book – an end that is imminently satisfying and logical, yet might not have the slightest resemblance to the original you envisioned.

Magic, indeed. But isn’t that what writing is? Surely it must be magic to create believable worlds and people from little more than imagination and caffeine.

Some writers say that writing which comes so easily is suspect and most likely garbage. Perhaps, but I’ve never found it so. Usually the post-Magic Click prose is among my best, some of which has stood as written without any changes at all from various usually tough editors. I personally think it’s because all the pre-writing is done in the subconscious and is fairly well edited before it erupts onto the page. Plus, just getting all those words down (as many as 8.000 during one rather spectacular session) is a purely joyous rush.

Pantsing is sometimes frightening, sometimes labor-intensive, sometimes frustrating. It is also great fun and very rewarding. In my opinion it creates a much more ‘alive’ and vibrant story. The Magic Click is just gravy.

          Janis Patterson is a seventh-generation Texan and a third-generation wordsmith who writes mysteries as Janis Patterson, romances and other things as Janis Susan May, children’s books as Janis Susan Patterson and scholarly works as J.S.M. Patterson.

          Formerly an actress and singer, a talent agent and Supervisor of Accessioning for a bio-genetic DNA testing lab, Janis has also been editor-in-chief of two multi-magazine publishing groups as well as many other things, including an enthusiastic amateur Egyptologist.