"I'm
Just Writing Down What the Characters Told Me":
On the Process of Writing Romance
By
Diana Laurence
(reprinted from the March 2004 Romance Junkies website)
Today my boss, a 43-year-old man who has sold machine parts all his life, asked me how the romance writing was going.
I'm a hundred pages into my new novel, I tell him. His face is full of wonder...he asks, so, do you work from an outline or something? How do you figure out what to write for a work that long? I think about the Process, as I have so many times before. Most people who have written fiction of any length know how the Process works. But how do you explain it to someone else?
Well, I answer him, I have a general idea of where the story is going, but the problem is, sometimes part way down the road, the characters have other ideas. They may end up telling you the story has a completely different ending. It happens.
He stared back at me, completely amazed. The guy has never written fiction.
But you, dear reader-you write fiction, so I think you're with me so far. And when you write fiction, especially romance, there's another thing that often happens: You fall in love with the story's hero. You're probably thinking, yeah, of course, tell me something I don't know. But really, I don't mean it in a pat way. I mean, the guy is as real to you as your dentist, and in a certain way, more real, because you know him so well...and he knows you even better.
He tells you things, sometimes stuff that has nothing whatsoever to do with the book. He'll come up with some amazing statements...ideas you would never have on your own. And it's mighty hard to believe he's just a figment of your imagination when he pipes up in the back of your mind with something that makes you laugh. After all, for something to be truly funny, you can't be able to see it coming. You had no idea he was going to say it...and if he were you, why did you feel so surprised?
Now at this point some of you readers may be baling on me, tippy-toeing away lest the crazy woman notice. But some others of you are nodding vigorously. And I daresay, the nodding ones are the ones capable of writing really good romance fiction.
Sure, you can draw up an outline before you tackle a novel, or even a short story, and it's not a bad idea. But if you have only so much time and energy to invest, I would tell you, far better to devote your attention to your characters. If you're writing romance, above all do not skimp on the time you spend with the hero.
When you're out on a morning run, let him run alongside you. (Probably commenting in his own inimitable way on the state of your exercise regimen.) When you're driving to the mall, talk with him about how the day is going. And of course (oh-here's the real hardship!), when you're in bed at night, let him make love to you. Find out how he conducts his pillow talk. Is he sweet, tender, nurturant? Is he playful, teasing? Or maybe aggressive, seductive, supremely self-confident? Assign yourself the task of learning exactly how he kisses, what he says after the act, how he makes you feel about him and about yourself.
And when you start feeling like you know what he is really like in every possible detail, ask him how he got that way. That's when it gets really interesting.
I have been writing fiction for over 35 years and one thing I'm sure of: Good writing comes of good characters-characters who, to the author, are as real as she can possibly experience them. Sure, writing can be a technical exercise--when it's an instructional manual, or a straight news story. But fiction writing is first and foremost an act of the imagination. A writer of supreme talent is first and foremost imaginative...and then secondarily, able to translate imagination successfully into words. A good writer feels characters born in her head, gets to know them, and writes them down well enough to do them justice.
That latter skill I am convinced comes most from reading and lots of it, as well as practice of course. But imagination is something each of us is born with: if you have it now, you had it as a two-year-old child in just the same measure. Obviously some people completely avoid using the imagination, and I am not wise enough nor experienced enough to explain that. I'm just saying, if you're thinking of writing fiction, ask yourself how often in your life you've been on the receiving end of that classic remark, "What an imagination!"
I'll bet you've heard it a few times. Perhaps even from that hero in your head. Right now mine is saying, "You do realize you come off as something of a know-it-all in this article, don't you?" He is smirking at me.
"I'm just putting in a plug for you," I retort.
He chuckles. "Well then, if you were just thinking of me, why not ask what I suggest you tell them?"
"Okay smart guy: what do you suggest I tell them?"
"I'd say, 'Are you sure you want to take advice from a woman who writes imaginary dialogue down in a non-fiction article?'"
Yep, he's real funny, that one.