Jaye Wells

… How I Write.

Bear with me, people. We’re entering the heart of darkness here. Or rather, the brain of darkness. Believe me, a visit isn’t nearly as scary as living here.

So I called my editor today. It had been a few weeks since we’ve checked in and I was in need of a little brainstorming advice. What this really means is I am procrastinating on starting this book and I needed a kick in the pants. Since my editor is awesome and I don’t abuse my phone privileges often, she humored me.

Here’s how it went:

Jaye: So I’m thinking something kind of happens and then Sabina does something sorta like that and then …

Devi (interrupts): Jaye.

Jaye: (guiltily) Yes?

Devi: Are you trying to plot before you know what your main scenes are again?

Jaye (whispers): Yes. (hangs head in shame)

Devi: (sighs patiently) Okay, tell me what scenes you’re picturing so far.

She then listens patiently as I list a bunch of random ass ideas I have for the book. Some are actual scenes and some are themes I want to explore either in this book or in future installments. Now that she’s been through  the (painful) process of writing my second book, Devi understands that I’m a freak of nature when it comes to story creation. Luckily, she’s worked with plenty of freaks and knows just what to say to guide me through my neurotic insistence on pretending to be a plotter.

The truth is I am neither a plotter nor a pantster. I used to joke and say I’m a plantster, but this glib descriptor isn’t quite right either. In fact, Devi diagnosed me as a “Scene Writer.”

The first time she floated this idea, I had no effing clue what she was talking about. She then went on to ask me a series of questions. By the end, I’d admitted that the first inklings I have for a story is usually a snippet of dialogue and/or a vague situation(Red-Headed Stepchild started this way). Usually, I have a few disjointed scenes like this that seem to be completely unrelated, but are fairly clear in my brain–like stills in a movie.

My job then, as the author, is to figure out how these scenes work together and what they tell me about the purpose of the story. Once I know the center–the heart of the story– I can then figure out how these random scenes (bones, if you will) fit together and start connecting them with ligaments and tendons. The rewriting process usually involves fleshing out skeleton even more with muscles and skin and other things that would fit into this story-as-human-body metaphor. Sound weird? Sound messy? Yes and yes. It is both.

The truth is my brain is highly visual and works in spirals instead of straight lines. In the past, I’ve tried to impose rigid plot structure on my poor brain and have basically ended up with really contrived plots and forced character development. My first two books were written this way on the advice of a former critique group. When I left them, I not only started trusting my story telling instincts more, but I also switched from romance to Urban Fantasy. Both the lack of rigid structure and the change to a more genre that really allowed me to flex my creative muscles took me from a frustrated aspiring writer to published author.

Now, that said, the minute I started The Mage in Black, I tried the whole structure thing again. Bad idea. Not quite an epic fail, but a near thing. That is until my editor reminded me to trust my instincts again and stop writing out of fear (of failure, among other things). The process was painful, but in the end, I think The Mage in Black is a better book than Red-Headed Stepchild on several levels.

But notice, at the beginning of this (extremely long, rambly post) that I still needed a reminder not to worry about plot at this point. Right now, I need to let my imagination run wild for a bit and see what happens. Later, once I have a handful of scenes that I react to on a visceral level (the ones I’m super excited to write), then I can sort the whole puzzle into a cohesive story.

So today, I wrote two scenes. One is probably going to happen near the end of the first act and the other may not even end up in this book or it might be the  climax. Not sure yet. But I do know that allowing myself to play for a bit is so much more enjoyable than trying to force a plot. Soon, I’ll have to talk it all out with someone I trust to listen to me ramble (I think through ideas by talking about them). I’ll also have to do some research to flesh out certain ideas, which will invariably lead to newer cooler ideas. And after all that, I’ll come up with a story plan that will then change while I’m actually writing the book. Jesus, just typing all that makes me tired. But it’s also kind of exciting because I can’t wait to see what I come up with for this one.

I hear there are other writers who work like this out there, but generally it’s such a mysterious process even to us that its hard to explain to others. But if this sounds like you–and even if it doesn’t–don’t force a process that’s not working for you.

Questions?