Writing Frustration

 

There are novelists who work out the entire plot before putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard.

I'm not one of those.

My characters come first. I put them in a challenging situation. Often, I am surprised at what they do and who they meet.

In Murder in Caleb's Landing, I discovered when I finished the first draft, the person whom I thought was the murderer wasn't. Not only that, when I went back to foreshadow the murder, I already had done so. In that same book, a person who had a walk-on part and dropped in for a coffee became a sub-plot that mirrored the main theme of the book.

I suppose you could call that the creative process. Since I tried the complete planning routine, it never worked. All these other characters and ideas would crop up, sometimes in the middle of the night. Other times, the Word Fairy would take control of my fingers and events would happen that had little to do with me.

At the moment I'm frustrated. I'm writing Lexington, the fictionalized life of an unknown British soldier killed in the first battle of the American Revolution. 

I've called him James. He was a baker before joining the 43rd Regiment of Foot. The research has been fun. I've met incredibly helpful people, especially with the National Park Service in Lexington. 

In writing a prologue in modern times, Daphne appeared. Several times when I sat down to write about James, Daphne reappeared and then she met Florence and before I knew it, there is a modern component that mirrors the 1774-1775 period. 

Thus the novel has become a historical/modern novel. I'm happy with that but surprised so surprised.

Some of my frustration is when writing about James, I get bogged down in historical accuracy. I wanted him to read a newspaper, which meant I needed to find a newspaper published at the time. And when I continue my research of a real event that if I included it would add to the depth.

Thus progress is slower than I would like. As always life gets in the way. Today was the first time in a week that the sky was blue. It made more sense to take Sherlock for a run at the reserve and let him visit the château ruins in Meinier. 

Because I have a dentist appointment tomorrow morning, and because restaurants are closed, I made a lamb stew so when we get home lunch will be ready. In the afternoon, I needed to apply for a new passport, assuming travel is safe again.

I didn't get down to writing until late in the afternoon. The next three mornings I have appointments.

Sometimes as we are riding to this or that place, it seems as if my characters are in the back seat, throwing ideas out of things they might want to do. 

There is a point when something has been written, polished, rewritten and repolished umpty up times, it becomes final. My characters are happy with their roles and I am happy with them. We all agree.

www.donnalanenelson.com has a listing of all my books.