Inspiration for Writing by J.A. Schneider

Here’s the question I hear most from writer friends: How do you do it? Starting is terrifying – should I outline? Edit as I go? Alas, there’s no one size fits all answer. Everyone has a way that works best for them. 

I can’t do outlines. I’ve tried to, they never work out. All I have at the outset is an idea and a twist at the end. Everything in between is chaos and what Agatha Christie called “cudgeling my brain.” Or that old adage about driving on a dark night with no headlights. I try to plan it out in my head for a few weeks…and then I begin the dreaded first draft. That, for me, is the hardest part. How to get from the first scene to the end through the nonstop abyss of “what happens next” in between?

It should comfort that most writers hate the first draft. More comfort comes from knowing that nobody – absolutely nobody – gets it right the first time. We’re not writers; we’re re-writers. Even Hemingway said, “Every first draft is sh*t.” He was likely full of whiskey when he said that, but I can honestly imagine him yelling it.  

With THE GIRL THIEF, I had zero idea of how Rooney Budd would be able to accomplish what obsessed her. Then it came to me: to infiltrate the lives of troubled, wealthy Kate and Griffin Tilden, she should be a catering assistant. That got her into their house, but then what? It was a bit of a struggle for me to figure it out. It also occurred that dangerous Griff Tilden would have a plan for Rooney too. From that point on, the characters started to take on a life of their own, and the story became scary cat and mouse. I started to love it. I always feel that if I can get through that first draft still excited, that’s it; I’ll stick with it. But it took that first trudge through to get there. 

Something else about first drafts: it really is better, if you can, to bang through them as fast as you can to see if the story will work. That’s extra hard for me. I really do want to stop and edit. The temptation is great, because it’s easier than pushing forward. Groundwork has been done; oh, the temptation to fiddle with language and plot holes!

Try not to. In my early days, I used to read interviews with successful authors, and I still have a folder of their best tips. One insists, “Shovel crap first. Just get it down.” Another says, “My first draft IS my outline. Don’t get it right, just get it writ.” And another described writing as “just bumbling around trying to find the best way to tell a story.” In short, you have to do it wrong first to know how you should have done it. Your first draft is your scaffolding, your placeholder. Then go deeper and expand. Don’t polish too early. Good writing is bad writing well edited. We’re not writers; we’re rewriters. Power through to the end of the first draft, then worry about language & plot holes.

One interview really stuck with me. It was with Alex Michaelides, author of The Silent Patient. He said that outlines were a habit he learned at film school. So when he started a novel, he continued to think that writing an outline would help. But listen to how it went for him.

“I thought blithely that it saves time,” he said. “Once you’ve got 20 to 25 outlines [!!], the actual process should be quick. It might not work so well if you want to be surprised during the writing, but for the kind of book I wanted to write – a detective story, essentially – everything needed to be planned meticulously.” (Here he paused for a heavy breath.) “But…”, he continued, “the actual writing was where I nearly fell down. I put off writing a novel for twenty years because I didn’t think I could do it, and I nearly quit many times while writing it. Every day was a battle with a voice telling me to give up, and it frightens me how many times I nearly listened to it. I think Stephen King said writing a novel is like crossing the Atlantic in a bucket, and he’s right. So if I can pass on any advice about the process, it is to make sure you don’t give up!”

That also sounds like a lesson in letting a story grow organically. A key word in Michaelides’ interview is his use of the word, “meticulously.” To me, “meticulous” is the enemy of the first draft. And it really is a thrill to watch a character just come to life. Let your story finally take you where it wants to go.  

The choice is yours, what works best for you. Either way, it never gets easier. But the rewards, when you’re happy with what you’ve created, are huge. Who really creates anything these days? As Flaubert said, “Writing is a dog’s life, but the only life.” 

Something like that. Good luck to you!!

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Joyce Schneider is a former writer at Newsweek and the author of multiple murder mysteries and psychological thrillers. She has studied at the Sorbonne and been an exchange student in the Soviet Union. Now her idea of more than enough excitement is writing thrillers and gardening (chasing off deer and using a crowbar to get out really stubborn rocks). She lives with her family and two funny dachshunds in Connecticut. To write Joyce or find more of her thrillers, check out jaschneiderauthor.net. Thanks for reading!

THE GIRL THIEF

“Relentless momentum and heart-pounding moments” – Goodreads

Ensnared into the lives of a troubled, wealthy couple – or is she?

“Please help me.”
Kate Tilden reaches her delicate, manicured hand next to mine, and I turn to her, startled. She’s unsteady, and there’s a stain on the bodice of her strappy party dress. Wine, probably. Her big blue eyes are red-rimmed and imploring me, just a caterer’s assistant, for help up the stairs. That startles me more…but so it begins.

Kate and her husband Griffin are a troubled glamor couple with dangerous secrets. Some I know because I have researched them, never dreaming that gaining access to them would be this easy. Has it been too easy? That gives me pause, but I feel kind of sorry for Kate. Online gossips say she’s miserable, and she took to me the last time I worked here. She even insists that I’d be a good live-in companion just to talk to, help with her problems. The pay would be better. Would I please stay awhile? Maybe longer?

The irony stuns me, because this is what I’ve long wanted. I have a secret too, something Griff and Kate Tilden could never guess. My only fear, besides being alone with them in this vast, isolated house, is that Griff is reputedly dangerous.

Well, I can be dangerous too. They don’t know my real reason for infiltrating their lives…

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Category: How To and Tips