In which we're still talking creativity

Creativity, part deux, mon amis.

*Meditation each day. There are numerous studies to support the fact that meditation alters brain activity, leading to relaxation and more productive creativity. We will assume this is true, but even if it isn’t, meditation is a nice rest for your shoulders, arms, and brain.

*Self-help or creativity reading each day. I include Sarah Ban Breathnach, Julia Cameron, and all poetry in this category. Anything that supports your creativity and lets a breath of fresh air into your reading is to be encouraged. And a single page or poem each day is all it takes.

*One day a week for nothing but play. No, really. No bill-paying or laundry, no grocery shopping or cleaning the toilet. Organize your week so that one day is entirely free—or half day if that’s all you can manage, but make it a solid block of time rather than several hours scattered over the week. Use that time to do playful, silly, or self-indulgent things. These can vary widely depending upon your whims. It might just as easily be a snowy hike with the dog as a bubble bath with a glass of cold champagne. Go out for tapas, plant an orchid, break open a fresh pack of crayons and color. Whatever feels like play IS play to you. Just don’t do things that you could check off of a to-do list.

*Make a procrastination list and dismantle it, piece by piece. We all have things we dread doing. They loom over us, bugbears that steal away our peace of mind and tug impatiently at our creativity. Do away with them by writing them down, all of them. Then take one item at a time and finish it. If you can’t face an item, break it down into what SARK calls “micromovements”, the tiniest steps toward completion. (The beauty of this idea is that starting a micromovement or two generally gives you enough momentum to finish entirely. If not, at least you’ve made a start.) Reward yourself as you work through the list. It might take a day, it might take months. Regardless, finishing those tasks is an accomplishment and it will free up part of your brain for your more creative endeavors.

So, there you have the creativity manifesto, nine easy steps toward protecting and enhancing your creative mind.

In which we talk creativity

This is the first of a two-part post on creativity. Hope you enjoy!

The writing life is an interesting one. For starters, it requires a constant tango with creativity, an ongoing effort to keep the fires of inspiration stoked and hot, and as everyone knows, to keep a fire going, you have to have fuel.

But how do you fuel creativity? Constant writing is like leaving the lights on in the car—it can drain the battery, and sometimes settling down to write can feel furtive and a little dangerous, as if you’re tinkering under the hood to hotwire the engine. I do not believe in writers’ block, but I do believe in fatigue. I know what it is like to be bone-tired, feeling gray and fuzzy around the edges. That’s when the cursor blinking at you seems to be tapping out profanity in Morse code and even writing the simplest blog entry or email seems to be demanding more than you can give.

The short solution for such times is simply to get on with it. If you are on deadline, you have no choice but to put your tailfeathers in the chair and write--painful, but effective. But there is a way to limit such occasions in the future, a sort of creativity manifesto whose guidelines are an excellent way to safeguard your creative spark. Here are a few of the things I do to ensure that when I sit down to work, the words sit down with me:

*No computer until the creative work for the day is done. This means no emails, no blogging, no updating Facebook until the writing is finished. It doesn’t matter whether the writing goal for the day is page or word count or limited by the clock. Meet it and then you can tweet.

*No computer after 5pm. Working from home means that the boundaries are blurred. Reclaiming the evening is like posting guards and electrified fencing to make certain your time for yourself and your family is observed.

*No work-related reading after 4pm. See above. It is far too easy to drift into reading and taking notes when you need to be giving yourself—and your juicy, bubbling subconscious—a break.

*One non-writing creative activity each day. Sketching, knitting, baking, gardening, quilling, boating. It doesn’t matter. Almost anything can be done creatively, and so long as it doesn’t involve putting words on paper, it will serve to support your imagination.

*Less television, more podcasts. Podcasts are becoming increasingly more worthwhile. You can listen to books, interviews, and debates, take language lessons, catch up with world news, and take tours of famous landmarks and libraries. Armchair travel at its best.

More to come tomorrow!

In which I am revising

And goodness me, isn't this a turnabout? I used to loathe revising. It made me ill to have to go back and revisit something I had already written. But from experience I've learned to love revising. It's like the girl you met in school and were totally prepared to hate until you discovered you had eleventy million things in common and became BFFs. Revising is now my BFF. That doesn't mean I still don't have to talk myself down off the ledge every time I start, but it does mean I have come to appreciate how much SIMPLER it is to deliver a good scene when you have the bones in place and just have to tweak it as opposed to building a rocket ship from parts every time. And it's tremendously fulfilling to take the raw scene and shape it into something wonderful--it's like birth, only without the good drugs and messy bits.

Anyway, I am in the pleasant creative fog of revisions at present, and in my down time I'm baking, making holiday plans, and watching "Clatterford". I don't know how I didn't even realize this show existed, but it combines two of my favorite things, Britcoms and a Women's Institute type of organization called the Ladies' Guild. (I deeply lament the fact that I don't live in England for loads of reasons and the WI is one of them. I follow them on Twitter, and I have to say, it gave me NO END of delirium to find that a branch of the WI is following me back.)

The series chronicles the lives of the guild members, and a wonderfully dysfunctional group it is. If you are a fan of BBCAmerica, you will probably spend the first episode pointing at the television, hollering, "I know her!" because the cast is superb--Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, and a host of fabulously talented women. (I did sound as if I had some sort of neurological disorder because I kept calling out, "It's Father Ted's housekeeper!" "I know that guy--he ran off with Bridget Jones' mother!" "And there's Bridget's friend Shazzer!" Be warned.) And it is no spoiler to tell you that my absolute favorite bit is the shot of the pew cozies in the church.

If you have a favorite Britcom I might have missed, do holler!

In which we talk theme

Reader Meredith posted the following : I can tell that /Silent on the Moor/ is set in dialogue with /Wuthering Heights,/ and when I contrast the actions and comments of Julia and Nicholas with those of the protagonists in /Wuthering Heights/ (whom I have always had some issues with, I'll just be honest,) the themes that emerge are, I feel, central to the entire Julia Grey series. And then when you add in the relationships between the inhabitants of Grimsgrave--! Very interesting, indeed.

So my questions are, what led you to want to explore the territory of /Wuthering Heights/? And are there any other books that might have a similar relationship with the Julia Grey series? And I know this puts the writer on the spot, but what do /you/ think are the central themes of the books? What would you have the reader come away with?

No doubt I've been hugely influenced by the Brontes and Jane Austen, and a trifle by Dickens, although that was entirely against my will, I assure you. Wuthering Heights has long been one of my two favorites of the Bronte novels for a variety of reasons. I love the fact that it isn't an easy book, and I don't mean the syntax or vocabulary. The emotions are difficult. It is hard to read about the violence of the love that Cathy and Heathcliff have for one another. There is no happy ending for them, and at no point can a reader easily imagine one. Can you honestly see Cathy tying on an apron and churning butter while Heathcliff herds sheep? There is no gentleness in their love for each other. It's brutal and it is destructive. Both characters--well, let's be honest, MOST of the characters--are deeply flawed and it's those flaws that make them more interesting. (I keep pointing out that women always cite Heathcliff as one of their favorite tall, dark, and handsome heroes, but how many actually remember that he HANGED HIS WIFE'S DOG on their wedding day just to show her who was the boss?)

The central theme in SOTM--as well as one of the themes in Wuthering Heights--is that you cannot escape the past. Whatever you do, it will find you; it is part of you, as elemental as the moor itself.

In which it's back to reader questions!

Reader Lynn e-mailed me the following: I'm going to add to your probable backlog of reader questions. Mine has to do with an author's relationship with his/her editor. I recently finished reading a book that, to my mind, needed serious editing. The basic story was interesting, but there were so many plot threads that just kind of hung out there, I wished by the end of the book that somebody had clipped them off. When I finished, as a reader I felt very dissatisfied, yet it was never so bad that I was ready to give up before finishing. What really is the role on an editor, and what kind of relationship do you have with yours? Do you think it's typical of a writer/editor relationship?

Ouch. There are few worse experiences as a reader than finding a book that needed a firm editorial hand and didn't get it. Unfortunately, that is far likelier to happen now than in the good old days because of how much the business has changed. I'm told that in times gone by, editors were able to guide their writers' careers, nurturing each book on its way and establishing a personal relationship with each author. I can't say from personal experience that this is how it used to be, but I've heard stories of editors who actually had the time to work at their desks. Now, I don't know of any editor who has time to edit. (My own editor only reads at home to ensure privacy and focus.)There are endless meetings and acquisitions, conferences and planning sessions and I don't know what-all. Many houses have been forced to slash their editorial staff, causing fewer people to do the same amount of work, and some--alas--have essentially abandoned the editorial process altogether, permitting deeply flawed books to hit the shelves just as they were when they left the authors' hands. (There is one house whose books I refuse to read EVER because I thought the books were painfully lacking in editorial guidance. I later learned that this is because they don't edit--a huge disservice to their authors and readers alike, but editing costs money and this particular firm is more interested in the bottom line.)

Having said that, I will tell you that my experience is vastly different. My editor is deeply involved in my books from start to finish. (She just made one suggestion regarding Julia Grey #4 that I am gutted I didn't think of first, but it's so good I'm just happy to be able to use it.) Some books require more editorial input than others--she made no changes in SITG at ALL, but requested that I lose three of the murders in SITS. She edits with an eye not just to the book we're working on, but to my career as a whole. And I'm extremely fortunate--thanks to my agent's forethought--that even though she's been promoted to executive editor, we're still able to work together. (Such transitions often mean that an editor is forced to shuffle their stable and assign some of their writers to other editors.) We get along extremely well, and although we are very different in many ways, we have a similar sensibility and are often able to short-hand our conversations in ways that would probably make sense only to us.

In which reader Sally asks about pacing

Here's an e-mail I received from Sally--the fabulous Sally from Already Pretty, a blog I flog frequently--about pacing in fiction: I'm curious about resting places in writing. I'm a very anxious person, and although I adore tension and action and suspense, I am always SO HAPPY when a story hits that spot where the characters aren't in any immediate danger. For a short time, everyone is just taking a break, the villain or threat is temporarily at bay, and the reader is given a chance to breathe. I'm working my way through SITS right now - at the pace of an elderly snail, thanks to my overbooked
life - and just got to a scene where Julia is having tea with Hortense after the first big drama has gone down. And, once again, found myself so pleased that I was given a chance to relax.

I'm curious about how a fiction writer chooses to place those resting
spots. I have only ever read one book that felt like the ENTIRE story
was at rest - Barbara Kingsolver's "Prodigal Summer." I loved it to
pieces, but was also amazed that a remotely interesting story could be
spun from rest and rest alone. I mean, there was plot and action, but
it was so mild that I never felt myself truly tense. Everything else
I've ever read sprinkles quiet moments sparingly amongst the action.
However, I imagine it would become overly predictable if those rests
ALWAYS happened directly after a big spike in action ... How do you
know when it's time to give everyone a breather?

An excellent question. I'm seldom asked about pacing, and I confess, my first reaction was, "Good grief, how do I know?!? It just happens!" (Y'all know by now that I am fairly superstitious about some things and analyzing my writing too closely is one of them.) But Sally deserves a better answer than that, so I'll give it a shot.

Writing is, to be mildly poetic, a form of alchemy. Writers transform base metal into gold by taking various mundane ingredients and tossing them into the crucible and applying heat. We can be secretive and possessive of our methods at times, and I can promise you that when I am it is simply because I haven't yet peeked behind that particular curtain. When I'm writing, I write from point to point. I know that when I start a book, I have to set the stage and introduce characters. From there I can introduce complications, and when those complications come, they require a breath in between so the reader can take stock of what I have done so far. There have to be levels, otherwise the entire book reads the same--usually a very dull thing.

When I think of the pacing of a novel I'm working on, I envision a sea. The reader is carried along on a little coracle, completely dependent upon the motion of that sea. If I raise the waves too high, too quickly, the craft capsizes, spilling the reader out and leaving them confused and bewildered. If I becalm the sea, the little boat sits too still for too long, exposing the reader to boredom and wandering fancies. But if I pitch it just right, each wave building a little higher, with perhaps a shorter lull between, the reader rides along happily, cresting the top of each wave and catching their breath in between. (And yes, I realize a coracle is not seaworthy, but it's my metaphor, so I get to make the rules.) And, to be completely prosaic here, lots of my pacing decisions are made for me simply because a certain piece of information must be discovered at a specific point or because two characters have to be brought together or torn apart. (My editor is also keenly aware of how many times I let them sit down to tea, so it's an issue I'm becoming more aware of myself with each book.)

Some writers are masters of pacing. I've mentioned several times that Mary Stewart was the finest I've ever seen at giving a tense, taut scene that lasts a hundred pages in which NOTHING HAPPENS. It's due entirely to the atmosphere of ramped-up tension she creates. I'm sure there are loads of writers who are gifted at dragging the reader along by the throat through three hundred pages of screaming tension, but these are not people I read, so I'm going to leave it there. The beauty is that whatever sort of tension you like to create, there is a reader who will be thrilled by it.

I also think that pacing--far more than plot or characters--determines the mood of a book. Summer is when I want something slower and more languid, long rivers of sentences that take their time. Winter, I might want something more complex and blood-stirring, with short, staccato constructions and heightened peril. What about you? Is pacing something you are aware of as a reader? Or are you simply, like many of us, just along for the ride?

In which reader Heather asks about my first book

As an aspiring writer, reader Heather was curious about my first experience with novel-writing. She wrote: when you started your first novel, how did it feel? Did it come easily? I am finding it scary and difficult, and I can only hope it gets better.

I wrote my first novel--not Silent in the Grave--when I was 23. I had just finished my first year of teaching and was feeling bored and restless when the summer came around. I had re-read Jane Eyre and decided to write something in a similar vein--mysterious, historical, with a nod to the Gothic. (I should point out that this was not just a whim. I had always planned that I would write novels.) Anyway, I sat down with a germ of an idea--no plot, no outline, no character studies--and wrote. I wrote every day for six or seven hours straight, something I've never managed to do since. My fingers would be stiffened into claws by the end of the day and my back would ache so badly I had to lie down on the floor just to straighten it out. But the experience of writing was brilliant. I loved it passionately. It was the first time I felt I really had the opportunity to let my imagination off the leash and see where it roamed. (I also learned the importance of backing up my work when I lost an entire afternoon's writing to a power surge.)

At the end of six weeks, I had a book. I didn't know what to do with it, of course, but I had a book. So I packaged it up and sent it off to a publisher who declined to purchase it, but who wrote a letter that began, "I think your writing is absolutely wonderful." That was the first time I realized I could fashion a career for myself at writing. Of course, it was almost sixteen years before I actually saw a book of mine in print, but the experience of writing that first book was absolutely magic.

Heather, since you remarked that you're finding it difficult, I'm going to offer a completely unsolicited observation: it is possible that you are allowing your internal editor too much of a voice at this point. Do what you must to shut her up. The first book--and most especially the first DRAFT of the first book--is just for writing. It's for making mistakes and miscues, it's messy. But the most important thing is to get something on paper. You can push and pull and lop and crop and make whatever you like of it once it's THERE, but you must have something to work with. It's like dressmaking. You have a length of gorgeous fabric, but it's nothing until it's cut and draped and pinned and sewn. But you will never have anything to cut and drape and pin and sew if you don't get the fabric first. Reader Megan, I hope that answers your question about internal editors as well. You have to simply ignore and push through! If you want a follow-up to this, just leave a comment and I'm happy to elaborate. Good luck to both of you!

In which Vicki talks Gothics

Reader Vicki asked if I have ever considered writing a Gothic novel. Ah, funny you should ask! The first two books I wrote were straight Gothic novels. It is a genre I LOVE, although I think it's a genre that's very easy to do badly. I grew up reading Victoria Holt, and eventually added Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels, M.M. Kaye, and Mary Stewart to the mix. I do think there's a demand for them still--and loads of very commercial books have Gothic elements in them even if they don't fall completely in the genre. To me, The Dead Travel Fast is a pure Gothic. It's historical, with a heroine who leaves her comfortable and familiar surroundings for a more exotic and mysterious locale. There is peril and suspense and an ongoing mystery about whether the events that unfold are supernatural or simply the work of a malicious character. (There's even a scene in a crypt...) Much of my writing is an homage to books I've read and loved, and TDTF is no exception. It will be out in March 2010, so mark your calendars!

In which we are back to reader questions

First off, many thanks for your kindnesses. Lots of you left comments here, on Facebook or Twitter, or e-mailed, and it is much appreciated. Other writers have commented that I have the very best readers--actually she used the word "fans", but I never do--and I agreed with her. I DO.

Now, back to reader questions! Reader Lisa asked a two-parter and I'm answering the second. She queried if I am writing what I want to write or if I am writing to be published. Luckily for me, the answer is both. My philosophy is that the best story you can write is one you want to read. And that's why, after several years spent collecting rejection letters, my very brilliant agent told me to stop writing and just read for a year. I did--and I took it one step further and only read things I enjoyed. I read classic mysteries from the Golden Age, the Brontes and Jane Austen. I read without limiting myself. My only criterion was that I had to like what I was reading. I went from Dorothy Parker to Daphne du Maurier. And when I was finished, I sat down and listed the qualities the books had in common. When I looked over the list, I knew what I needed to write: a historical English mystery with a sprightly heroine and a dark, dishy hero. I wanted a touch of humour and very little social or political commentary. I wanted it twisty and very lightly gruesome, but over all, I wanted it enjoyable, and as I started writing, I realized I wanted to make it a series.

Luckily for me, my publisher was looking for the same thing--a rather important point that perhaps doesn't get enough emphasis is that getting published is not just about talent and discipline. It is often very simply a matter of timing. I know my own publisher would not have taken me on a year earlier or a year later. They got SITG right when they were looking for it.

Ultimately, you cannot write what you THINK people want to publish. The best you can do is to write authentically and hope the planets will align and you will find the publisher who needs you.

In which it is a happy day!

Yesterday my editor approved my formal proposal for Julia Grey #4 which means I can start writing!! Several of you have asked about the process of publishing, and the proposal is an exciting, nerve-flaying time. My proposals run about five pages--just a brief synopsis of the high points of the story including important characters and events complete with an overview of the subplots and the ending. Writing them is almost as painful as writing my own bios--NOTHING is worse than writing a bio. The trouble with synopsis writing is that it happens when I'm not quite ready to do it. It's the catalyst that forces me to structure the ideas that have been floating around a trifle formlessly. It's the first chance I have to see if the plot is going to hang together properly--a scary thing, to be sure. And since I write them very seldom, I always have to remind myself how to do it. (I've printed out the direction on writing a synopsis from the eHarlequin website. It's actually the best article I've read on the subject.)

Anyway, once the proposal goes in, I always think my editor is going to call and we'll have a thirty-second conversation about how fabulous it is and she'll approve it without discussion. Which is of course precisely what NEVER happens, and I'm not sure why I never remember that. What happens is that she calls me and we talk for approximately two hours, sometime spread over multiple conversations. She asks the HARD questions, and I'm not sure how she does it exactly, but if there's a section of the plot that I glossed over--with the thought that I'd figure it out later--she SMELLS it. That's invariably the question she asks and I have to know the answer.

And after a few hours of discussion and nail-nibbling, I have the remains of my proposal, one that is always basically the same, but can include radical changes to plot or characters. In this case, a few points my editor raised during our Tuesday discussion gave rise to me making decisions that will affect the series for three books to come--GOOD decisions, too. Developments that my editor and I are both excited about. I should point out that she always tells me I shouldn't change anything I don't WANT to change; I always explain that if I felt strongly about it I would dig my heels in and would never change something just to do it. But invariably she will drop an idea into the discussion or ask a question that prompts some extremely valuable thinking on my part and makes the book infinitely better. (This is why the gift of a good editor is a wonderful thing.)

The only change I was not entirely thrilled with was the fact that I lost the title I liked. She liked it too, but she explained that the book I've proposed is too exotic and interesting for the title and honestly, HOW can you argue with that? You can't say, "No, really, my book is dull and lifeless and the title is perfect." So, it's back to the drawing board on that point, but the rest of it makes me so happy, I don't even really mind.

(And if you're really interested in the publishing process, I should probably mention that this is one of the steps where money is paid out. Since money is usually only paid twice a year for royalties, the signing of contracts and the acceptances of proposals and manuscripts are VERY good days.)

Back to reader questions tomorrow!

In which reader Amanda asks about revenge

When I opened up the blog to reader questions, Amanda posed the following: I was reading an interview you gave a while back where you mentioned a manuscript that had been rejected and was sitting in a box somewhere. Do you think that now you're an award-winning author it has the potential to see the light of day and be published? Revenge is best served with scones, ya know.

Oh, not one, my dear. There are notes and/or completed manuscripts for at least seven books languishing in the attic. (I am vigilant about keeping everything related to the writing of every book, published or not.) Those books represent my education as a writer. I started when I was 23 with a Gothic, and that's the only book that might possibly see the light of day, albeit in a vastly altered state. I still quite like the premise of that book, but that seed of an idea is all I would take from it. The others are mine and mine alone and my daughter is under orders to destroy them when I die. (Doesn't that sound terribly "Falcon Crest"? We had our wills re-written last year and it was quite entertaining to listen to the attorney reading out clauses relating to my "literary estate".) Anyway, those books were an important--HUGELY important--part of my development as a writer, but they are not good enough to be published without extensive re-working, and I'm not interested in going backwards.

The one exception to that is a book that was never shopped. When I was waiting to find out if SITG was going to be published, I started the sequel. I got 50 or so pages into SITS before I lost heart and put it aside. I simply didn't want to carry on with the characters I loved if the first book wasn't going to be published. We had just moved to Virginia and were living in a townhouse we called--without irony, mind you--The Tenement. I was depressed about my professional prospects and all of my historical research was packed away. I didn't have the heart to keep digging into the Victorian era. I wanted something easy and accessible. So I sat down and wrote a contemporary novel saturated with magical realism. It's about a witch, and I dearly love parts of that book. Other parts need to be gutted, but I think it would be a delicious project. So I'm holding that one in reserve. Aside from my immediate family, only my agent has seen it, and she's convinced it's commercial enough to sell with the right tweaking, so we'll see.

In which we're talking reader questions

Reader Rachel de-lurked from Australia to post this a few days ago: I'm about half-way through writing my own MS (Victorian suspense) - a first effort that could well end up as nothing but a doorstop, but I'm wondering ... as someone who obviously has a life beyond writing, what's your secret to making it all work? I've three kids; my youngest just last week started school, and I expected to have scads of time on my hands to get stuck into the writing ... but it's not happening. Any tips would be much appreciated!

The secret to making it all work is knowing that you CAN have it all--just not necessarily at the same time. I know loads of fabulous women who are perched on the verge of a nervous breakdown because they try very hard to be everything to everyone. This is laudable, but also a recipe for catastrophe. I tend to be very realistic about my expectations. When I was a senior in high school, I had a raging case of mononucleosis--I was quarantined from school for almost a month and the only reason my doctor didn't hospitalize me was because my mother didn't work and could take care of me 'round the clock. When I got better, I didn't get FULLY better. My stamina was practically non-existent, and it stayed that way for many years. What I learned--what I HAD to learn--was how to take care of myself, when to rest, when to say no, when to let go of what I could not or did not want to do. I turned down any project I wasn't enthusiastic about and I refused to worry about my grades in college, figuring that so long as I got a degree, no one would care what my GPA had been. (I was absolutely right about that one, too.)

When I started writing and later, when I became a mother, that lesson was even more invaluable. I figured out what really mattered to me, gave those areas of my life my best, and slacked on the rest. I still do. I have a tiny list of things that are very important to me that get 100% of my care and attention and the rest of it I delegate, ignore, or refuse. I try to do it politely, but I am RUTHLESS about protecting my family time, my writing time, and my me time. (Solitary me time for puttering or daydreaming or brainstorming is essential for me, I've found.) I guard those areas ferociously, and so far it's working out just fine. I try very hard to achieve a sort of balance between what I do for me and what I do for others, what is work and what is home, what is solitary and what is social.

The writer Rumer Godden describes in her memoirs the East Indian proverb that a person is like a house with four rooms--physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional. Each room must be visited each day, if only to air it out, to be complete. (I may have mentioned that here on the blog before, but if I have I'm not apologizing--it bears repeating. A LOT.) I'm working on visiting my rooms every day because whatever you neglect is where trouble starts, I've found.

One further thing, Rachel. I noticed you said you expected to have scads of time to get stuck into your writing. I suspect you do, but you're just not claiming it. My writing comes first thing in the morning, as soon as everyone has left the house--before cleaning, before laundry, before errands, before ANYTHING. I do it when my energy is highest and distractions are at a minimum, and then it's DONE for the day. I don't answer the phone or the door or check my e-mail when I'm working. (I follow a few authors on twitter who tweet continuously while they're working and it drives me mad to think about it. HOW can they keep stopping to connect to the 21st century?! I am completely sunk into the 19th when I'm working.) My work doesn't "happen". I make it happen. It's a subtle difference, but an important one, I think. Good luck!

In which I feel like a first-grader at Show-and-Tell

Ever since I first started talking about the inspiration boards I make for my books, I've had people who were curious enough to ask to see them. And I've always made excuses and scurried away because the collages are solely for me--each is a creative aide-memoire and was never intended for public consumption. They are private and personal, and putting them on display rather feels like letting you peek inside my lingerie armoire. On the other hand, it just seems rude to keep mentioning them and never show them, and the request has cropped up again, so I'm posting photos of details of the three boards I've made. The first is a detail of the board for Silent in the Sanctuary. The following is of the Silent on the Moor board, and the last is from the board I created for The Dead Travel Fast. That board was the most difficult to photograph because I still have it under glass, hanging opposite my desk. (It is very nearly time to make the collage for Julia Grey #4 and replace the TDTF board.) Anyway, the glass happened to catch the reflection of the tiny chandelier that hangs over my desk in the last photo. A little eerie-looking, which is absolutely perfect for that particular book.

In which we have reader questions

First of all, a HUGE bouquet of thank-yous to everyone who left a comment or question on Friday. I wrote Saturday's blog entry on Friday morning when there was a fraction of the total that would end up being posted, and I was so delighted when the number kept climbing! We have loads of great questions to answer, but I'm also so happy that several of you accepted the invitation just to pop in and say "hi". When I sign with other writers they always comment on how enthusiastic and gracious my readers are and I just smile and say, "I KNOW." Y'all are fabulous, end of story. (Leslie, thank you in particular. I didn't realize your mother was ill, and please let her know she has my very best wishes.)

So, onto some juicy reader questions! Karen posted: Are you a plotter or a pantser? How much of your story do you know in advance before you actually start writing or do you just wing it? Do you need silence or music in the background? The writing process fascinates me. I am what I call an organized pantser. I know where I am going; I just don't necessarily know how I'm going to get there! Here's a reply I gave during an interview last winter that discusses the matter in more detail: My novels always begin with a single snippet of an idea. It can be a line of poetry, a painting, an odd historical fact. And then I start weaving the spider’s web out from there. I try to think it out logically; if A happens, then B must happen. What sort of person would do A in the first place? What would they do if C happened instead? Plot and character are developed at the same time, with plot usually coming in just a bit ahead. I read and research while I’m plotting, and then I write, always without a detailed, formal outline. I know my characters. I know where we’re beginning; I know where we’re going. I’m just never certain quite how we’re going to get there. But each day’s scene dictates the scene for the next day, so on a day-to-day basis I know precisely what I’m doing. Usually I know the next two or three scenes, but no more.

And here's another response to a related question in the same interview that also covers the process: I prefer to write in the morning, and I prefer to write every day. If I am on a deadline I will write a quota each day. If I’m writing at a slower pace, I am likelier to write scene by scene instead. Each evening I will read over what I wrote that day and make corrections by hand. The next morning I will start by inputting those changes, then I’m nicely warmed up to start writing. I always write on my computer. I would love to be one of those bohemian artistic types who can write in a coffee house, but I just can’t. Writing longhand changes the rhythm of the narrative for me, and that’s deadly. I always write to music, usually movie soundtracks or something written in the period I’m writing about. If all else fails, it’s Bach. And I do have a little corner of sacred space in my study, so there is usually a candle burning or a bit of incense. And I make inspiration boards for each book, an enormous collage of images that somehow relate to the book, settings, faces, bits of architecture or scenery. The current board is always hung where I can see it from my desk. Lately, I have been taking a few minutes to meditate and light a candle and write an intention for that day’s work as a way of putting myself into a purposeful and creative state of mind.

I should post my usual caveat: what I've just described is my process. If you are an aspiring writer, I beg of you, do not read that and think that is how YOU should do it. Writing is a hugely idiosyncratic business. We all do it differently and we all do it in a way that works for US. If anything about my process helps you, fabulous--take it and run. But don't ever think that you have to write the same way anybody else does.

For Australian reader melscott, Julia wears a violet scent. I'll post about your second question another day!

In which I'm answering reader questions

Yesterday I opened the blog up to questions from readers and got loads of great ones! So for the next few days--with Sunday off, of course--I'll be working my way through them, in no particular order. (And big thanks to those of you who just stopped by to say "hi!")

Nina wanted to know if I ever planned on "writing books that aren't in the mystery category"--specifically a ghost story. She also wanted to know the most interesting place I've ever visited for research purposes. (She also asked if I've made the Paula Deen recipe for banana pudding. Nina was nice enough to send it along a few weeks back.)

Funny you ask about writing books that aren't mysteries because I have other people asking if I'm going to write books that aren't romances! Personally, I consider the books mainstream with appeal to readers in both genres, but other folks categorize them according to their own standards, and that's just fine with me. To get to the meat of your question, I think there will always be some element of the mysterious in everything I write, although I can certainly see myself straying from the path of the "proper" mystery. I've never tried my hand at a ghost story, but "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James is one of my favorites, so who knows?

The most interesting place I've visited for research is Yorkshire. From the moors to the intensely atmospheric East Riddlesden Hall to the charm of Sledmere House, I loved it ALL. The weather was beautiful, the cream teas were to die for, and the landscape is lovely.

And no--no banana pudding yet because I don't keep white sugar in the house! I think Paula's fab, but reading her recipes is a sort of armchair travel for me. I can appreciate them even if I don't go there!

Anonymous asked if Portia will ever find true love and happiness. Now, naturally I can't give away what happens in book four, but I will say that Portia is going to play a large role in the book and there are significant developments in her personal life. (I have great affection for her myself.)

Kimmie7977 asked if I knew the title of the next Julia Grey book. I do, actually, but I can't share it just yet because I'm waiting on formal approval from my publisher. As soon as I have it, I'll let you know! I can tell you that we're leaving the "Silent" titles behind to avoid confusion as the series continues. (My publisher was concerned that after three titles it might be tricky for readers to fit in which books comes where in the series.) So we're off to a new set of titles, which will also be linked together, and I am quite smitten with them!


And Karen wanted to know if there was a specific end planned to the series or is it open-ended. At present, the series is open-ended. So long as my publisher is happy to print them and readers are happy to buy them, I am happy to write them!

In which I talk process

Sorry about the disappearing act yesterday--Blogger was cattywampus for awhile, it seems to be fine now.

A few months back, I received my RWA publication that had an excellent article on character development. I no longer have the article, and I cannot remember who wrote it which makes me want to KICK myself. (If you have the source, please drop me a note in the comments so I can give credit.) The upshot of the article was that a superb tool for character development is Raymond Cattrall's 16 Personality Factors. I'm linking to the wiki article which gives a quick overview. This is a great pre-writing activity or even a way to clarify your impression of a character once you've begun writing. Think of the 16 factors as shorthand to your character's psyche. If you compare the two options for each factor, your character will lean to one side or the other. Once you've completed the sixteen assessments--and this can be as quick or as detailed as you like--you have a general map of your character's personality. Any one of the factors can be used as a jumping-off point for creating backstory or adding detail. (Your character is anti-social? Why? Was there a childhood incident? Incipient and untreated illness? Dark secret? The possibilities are endless.) I used the technique myself to help focus my thoughts on my current project and found it very useful. Just another little bit of conjuring for your bag of tricks.

In which we get frivolous

I need to lighten the mood here, people. I am tail over teakettle right now finishing up the revisions to TDTF, and I am beyond tired. I ferreted out the details of a plot tweak to the ending over the weekend and was dying to get to work on Monday morning--until a tornado warning scuppered that plan and lightning forced me to shut down the computer and do laundry instead. (It only occurred to me after I started my fourth load that the washer could get zapped just as easily as the computer...) I'm at that stage in the book where you are sooooooooo close to the ending, but it seems like there's always just one more scene you need to tuck in before you're there. So many loose ends to tidy up. Yet another point of comparison between knitting and writing. I know several knitters who love the work, stitch by stitch, but loathe the weaving in of the ends, and I know several writers who feel the same way.

Anyway, in spite of the horrendous weather, my trusty postman delivered my spiffy new pewter heels--a very nice bright spot in an otherwise meh day. (I needed silvery shoes, but not bright silver--my dress is silver lace with a smoky charcoal overlay--and it finally occurred to me that pewter was the way to go. I found these and they are perfect, a little darker than in the picture and surprisingly comfortable. I can wear them for evening or even with a black dress earlier in the day. And amazingly enough, I found a small pewter evening bag at Target for $14.99. Rock on, Target.)

So, in the interests of lightness and frivolity, I give you the Steampunk Dressing Game. Enjoy.