I decided to have some fun when writing my latest psychological thriller, The Writer. It’s my 30th published novel so I thought, why not use what I know and write about a woman writing her 30th novel. Except my main character, Cara, is panicking because she can’t think of a plot for her next and feels under pressure to deliver from her agent and editor.
Unlike Cara, I’ve never had a problem with coming up with a plotline. Some work better than others, some come more easily, but so far I’ve always managed to turn vague ideas into a story. But like Cara, there are times when I wonder if I’ve forgotten how to write and I look at the blank screen and think, how do I do this again? Luckily, once I begin to write, it comes back to me.
Writers tend to fall into two broad categories: Planners – those who plan in advance, and Pantsers – those who write by the seat of their pants. I’m a Pantser. Sometimes I only have a fragment of an idea but I’ll sit down and start writing and hope it all comes together at the end. I usually write a rough first draft, getting the story out as quickly as I can knowing it’s going to need a good second draft to backfill stories, darn plot holes, and smooth out bumpy edges.
Unlike Cara, I’ve never had pressure from my lovely editor Emily to meet deadlines, although I do try to reach them on time – or nearly anyway!
Cara becomes so stressed that fiction and fact become blurred. As writers, we often become so invested in our characters that they can feel real – and there’s always that great feeling in the middle of a story when it’s as if they’ve have come alive and are writing it themselves. In the beginning, I thought this was some weirdness on my part, but I’ve since heard many writers saying the same thing.
The life of a writer is strange – we sit on our own, inventing lives and the people who live in them and when we do venture into the real world, we’re looking for inspiration for our next and nothing, and nobody is off limits!
In The Writer, I have used some of my experience and things I have learned since I began writing over sixteen years go to create a world for Cara to inhabit.
If you read The Writer – see if you can figure out how much of it is based on fact… 😊 Read here: https://mybook.to/TheWriterSocial