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Taking a windblown break from writing |
By John C. Sheldon, AKA: Gayle Lynds’s
domestic accomplice and occasional co-author
What's it like to live with a thriller writer? I’ll tell you, but first, let’s clarify: does the question ask what it’s like to live with a thriller writer, or does it
ask what it’s like to live with a thriller
writer?
Answer #1 is easy: it’s fun.
Well maybe not all the time—not, for example, when an editor’s deadline looms
and said writer is pulling all-nighters.
And not when she’s trying out the new garrote she just got from Amazon,
on my neck. In the middle of the night
(as required by her plot). Or
accidentally blowing up the garage with the C-4 she got from the Army-Navy surplus
store downtown. (Just kidding—it was only
dynamite.) But otherwise it’s
great. Especially when I get to read
drafts and suggest ever more clever ways to grease the bad guys.
Option #2—what’s it like to live with a thriller writer?—involves a more complicated answer. The reason is that I’m a writer too.
Not interested? Of
course not, because there’s no plot, no characters, no excitement. So when Gayle
and I first worked on a story together—for an anthology to which she’d been
invited to contribute—I had to learn to write fiction.
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Now we're on the backhoe. Will we ever finish the story? |
I’d never done fiction. Fiction, as far as I knew, was all about,
well, making it up by yourself. But all
I’d ever written about (since college) was law, and in the law, everything’s
about precedent. You want your client to
win, you gotta show there’s precedent for it.
If there isn’t precedent for your argument you’re in trouble; if your
argument is brand, spanking never-heard-of-before you’re looking at a
malpractice suit.
Fiction, of course, is the opposite: avoid all precedent, eschew everything you’ve
ever read. Retired CIA agent who prefers
to tend his begonias but is reactivated to combat an unprecedented enemy? Forget it—more common than trucks on the N.J.
Turnpike. Wanna try the road less
taken? Forget it—“less taken” means “already
been taken,” and you’re angling for pink slips and charges of plagiarism. It’s gotta be the road never travelled by
anyone before, and even better, never thought of before.
That means inventing a “plot.” I didn’t know how to “plot.” With legal stuff the plot’s a virtual given. Consider O.J.
We know the location, the characters and the evidence—Los Angeles, glamorous
victim and defendant, the glove. The
lawyers argue within the boundaries set by the characters and by the evidence
that already exist. Not an ounce of
thriller.
But in fiction, nothing exists until you invent it. You make up a story line: Woman stops at motel for the night. You imagine the characters: woman is a thief,
has stolen money from her employer and is on the run, while the guy who manages
the motel has (shhh—had?) a mother
who abuses him. You mix in pizzazz: someone stabs the woman to death in the
shower. Creepy, thrilling.
And stop to think about it:
had anyone ever done that story line, with those characters, with that particular
pizzazz before? And would anyone ever
use those things again?
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Meriwether Lewis asking directions. |
Now you understand why, when asked to do fiction for the
first time, I felt like
Meriwether Lewis, out there in the frontier with no
map, no roads, no paths even—no idea where I was going or what I’d find if I
ever got there.
Talk about feeding my insecurities. When Gayle and I did that first short story I
needed reassurance, so we agreed that the bad guy should be a judge. We set it in Lewiston, Maine—somewhere I
knew. The good guy was a
prosecutor—something I’d been. The story
worked, and I’d successfully groped my way a couple of hundred feet into fiction’s
wilderness.
A few more stories and we got more adventurous. The most recent one takes place among the
grottoes of an island and involves a time warp.
A time warp.
Think I
learned that in law school?
Think my
next submission to the
Maine Law Review will involve a time warp?
Precedent, I disown you.
From now on it’s Gayle and me and Meriwether Lewis. We’re heading back to where thrills
flourish.
Who are the thrilling people in your life? Please leave a comment and tell us!
Nicely done, John. Is this what Jim's thinking and isn't telling me? I especially like the idea of Gayle trying out a garrote at midnight. And I find fascinating that the two of you collaborate on stories - without killing each other. I have a daughter and a husband who both write - and I know writing with my daughter would not be pretty. Not sure about Jim - he's the strong silent type - who's likely to try out a garrote. Anyway, thanks for the insights and the laugh.
ReplyDeleteStay away from the C4. Tried it, didn't care for it. J.
ReplyDeleteCongrats for collaborating! My husband likes being the idea man, but when it comes to plotting, forget it. He has, more than once, decided that his latest brainstorm would be a great book. Okay, I say. Interesting idea. Now, why is my protagonist investigating this? What is compelling her? What is the threat to her personally if she fails? What is going to give this story that 'race against the clock' factor? At this point he throws up his hands and tells me that's all my problem. He's the idea man.
ReplyDeleteHow great to hear the spouse's perspective on living - and collaborating - with a thriller writer. But now, John, if you see yourself as Meriwether Lewis, we must dub Gayle as your Sacagawea -- famous interpreter and traveling companion - all across the country (which mirrors your lifestyle anyway). And a bit of trivia for you: the name Sacagawea means "Boat Launcher" in Shoshone -- so all we need to do is change two letters: remove "at" and add "ok" - and we get "Book Launcher." Now I must go read your short stories - I'm sure they are terrific. Thanks for an intriguing post.
ReplyDelete