Eleventh Hour Herrings - by guest-blogger Laura Jensen Walker

Craft: Do you think about craft while you are writing? (how to construct good characters, settings, plot) Or do you just let her rip and worry about that “later?”

Catriona writes: I'm delighted, today, to be hosting Laura Jensen Walker, as she celebrates the launch (next Tuesday) of her mystery debut, MURDER MOST SWEET. Readers who love character, humour and cakes, read on. Writers who're feeling insecure, maybe stop now. Because this is a debut cozy, but Laura is far from a debut author and she's alarmingly capable and cheerful. I'm kidding, obviously (because breathing), but there truly are no fainting couches here. 

And now, Laura:

Yes and no. I’m a total pantser. I don’t outline, plot, or plan out the story in advance—apart from a brief synopsis. I always know where the story’s going to start, and I have a general idea of the ending before I begin (although that has changed as the story unfolds) but everything in between those two points is a surprise. I’ve even changed the murderer a couple times from who I originally thought it would be.

I’m a very character-driven writer, so I do think a lot about how to construct a good, strong character—particularly my main character—as I’m writing. For secondary characters, however, they usually start out a bit vague and undefined and I go back and flesh them out later, once I’ve finished my first draft. I love writing dialogue and that comes easily to me, so I always have fun with that, and will always look at conversations critically and ask myself if that’s the best/funniest way for the character to say something. Often, because I don’t know what the full story is until I’ve finished the first draft, and it’s unfolding organically as I write and I just want to get it down on paper, I’ll write a scene and then make a note to myself: “BORING! Fix!” I’m always making notes to myself in the manuscript, like, “Ugh, make funnier. Find better word. Add more description.”

Setting/description is one of my weak areas—I’m always impressed by writers like you, Catriona, who create such fabulously atmospheric settings in your books. [Aw, thank you for the kind words, Laura - C] I’m getting better though and was delighted when some readers on Goodreads recently commented how much they liked the setting and descriptions in my first two cozies. While I’m first-drafting, I’ll sketch in a very basic setting, and then come back later and fill it out during rewrites. I rewrite multiple times. Who was it that said, ‘writing is rewriting?” Definitely true for me.

Plot was the scariest thing for me when I started writing my first cozy mystery. Mysteries are all about plot, and I am not a plotter. That worried me at first that I wouldn’t be able to write a mystery. (My husband, Michael, used to say, ‘Wouldn’t it be easier for you and save a lot of time if you plotted things out in advance? Then you wouldn’t have to rewrite so much.’) He doesn’t say that anymore. Having just finished my tenth novel, and third mystery, he now sees that my pantser process works for me. I’ve learned to trust that process. I tried a few times to plan some of the plot out in advance by writing scenes that I ‘planned’ to happen later in the book, but each time, the story unfolded differently, and I’d have to scrap those scenes. Now I don’t waste time writing scenes in advance. Like Anne Lamott says, I take it ‘bird by bird.’ I write chronologically and let the story unfold organically. Luckily, I’m a fast writer (thank you, journalism training and daily deadlines) so the rewriting isn’t arduous. I suppose this means after all that I do just “let her rip and worry about the craft later.” For instance, in the book I just finished (Deadly Delights, the second Bookish Baker mystery) plot-wise, I knew who the murderer was from the beginning, but as I was reaching the end of the first draft, I saw that some of the actions of other characters didn’t work and were too obvious. I realized I needed better red herrings so at the eleventh hour, I added them in, and had a blast doing so. It involved more rewriting, but in the end, it made the story stronger, the mystery better, and gave me—and my readers—an unexpected plot twist. Which is what we want from our mysteries, right?
 
Catriona again: Laura's launch event is hosted by Capitol Books on K, via Crowdcast, on Tuesday 8th Sept. Sign-up here.

Laura Jensen Walker has loved mysteries ever since she read Trixie Belden in the fourth grade in her hometown of Racine, Wisconsin—America’s kringle capital. A former journalist and the author of several chick-lit novels and humorous non-fiction books, including Thanks for the Mammogram! Laura flew a typewriter across Europe in her twenties in Uncle Sam’s Air Force. She lives in Northern California with her Renaissance-man husband and their canine daughter, Mellie. Laura is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. Visit her website at www.laurajensenwalker.com