Survey Results! Part 3

Here are the responses from those who most agreed with this statement regarding their writing: I begin with a certain vision for the book, but when the final draft is finished, I’m astonished at how different the book has turned out from how I originally envisioned it.

As I mentioned in part one above, if an author was unclear on their response, I put them in the group that seemed most appropriate to their answer.

Jerry Jenkins (fiction and non-fiction): I’m closest to answer 3. I find myself in the Stephen King school of novel writing. I try to put interesting characters in difficult situations and write to find out what happens. I call it writing by process of discovery. If it is serendipitous to me, it should not be predicable to the reader.

When fans write and say, “Why did you kill off my favorite character?” I write back, “I didn’t kill him off; I found him dead.”

Of course, publishers want to know the story before you write it, but I always contract with the caveat that fiction is by nature organic and that the characters need their own voices and heads, and the story needs to go where it wants to go. So the result is often surprising to me.

BJ Hoff (fiction): No. 3 would most closely apply for me. However, after writing so many novels over the years, I’m not actually surprised at how much the final version changes by the time I complete the manuscript. I’ve learned that the final rendering is almost certain to be vastly different from my original conception. That’s just the way it works for me. I imagine the fact that I’m not an outliner has something to do with that.

Mindy Starns Clark (fiction and non-fiction): Depends entirely on your definition of “original vision.” My process is to start with some internal brainstorming on a few basic ideas, do a little research to get my head around the necessary and most important facts that I’ll be working with, think on it some more, then finally sit down by myself or with John and sketch out the whole plot using pencil and a giant pad of paper. (lots of arrows and stick figures, lol, but it makes sense to me!) Immediately after that, I put the whole thing into 1-3 paragraphs of something like catalog copy, a general description that I can refer to as needed. If that initial copy is what you mean by my original vision, then the answer is #3. My final book will have evolved pretty far from that original description/plot session.

My next step is to go into more detailed research, do serious character work for the heroine/hero/villian (usually with the help of Myers-Briggs), and also sketch out a full description of “what really happened” (a tedious but painful necessity when writing a mystery) that includes motives, the causes of red herrings, the murder method, etc. Once that part of the work is all finished, I have a much fuller idea of my book and so my answer would be #2.

After that, I sit down and hammer out an outline of the story itself, which is different from the What Really Happened version. That one is about the crime, this one is about how my heroine goes about solving the crime. This outline is about 20-40 pages, sort of shorthand version of the final thing. By the time my outline is finished, the hardest but also the most fun part is finished as well. The tedium of the actual page by page writing comes next. There are some differences between this outline and the final book, but not a ton. So the answer would be #3.

T. Davis Bunn (fiction): This to me is not a simple question. If I take my current work as an example: ‘Lion of Babylon’ is the first time I have ever based a story upon my experiences of working and living in the Middle East. I wrote the outline over a six month period, coming back to it time and again between other projects. Then I just sat on it for months, knowing I needed something more, but not sure what it was. Finally I showed it to Carol Johnson and Dave Horton at Bethany House. It was only when I received their feedback that I felt the book begin to genuinely solidify.

Generally when preparing the outline, I focus upon my weakest areas. In this case, my desire was to have half the story told from the pov of an Arab Christian. What does it mean to live as a member of a minority faith? What are the current circumstances faced by such a person and their family? In order for such issues to NOT get in the way of the overall story, I need to grow utterly comfortable with this man, his world, and his ‘skin’, at the outline phase.

In the first draft, the aim is balance. All the various elements of the story need to be molded into a smooth orchestral arrangement. With this story, my aim was to reveal a deep complexity in a simple fashion, much like what I did with ‘Great Divide’. The more complex and emotional the issues, the simpler the structure needs to be. I have always found this to be a vital truth of good storytelling. Like in ‘Divide’, I wanted to go beyond the basic components of a good thriller, and tell a story with heart.

In general, the crucial change between outline and first draft is the climax. I have never had my first vision of the climax actually become the book’s culmination. ‘Lion of Babylon’ is no exception. As usual, what I envisioned as the climax actually became one of the crucial moments LEADING to the climax. I find I like this uncertainty, this unexpectedness. If I don’t know, the reader normally can’t anticipate.

At the same time, I need to have some sense of the ultimate goal. Where is the story headed? Having a climax in mind is crucial. Having it change is part of the fun.

Lauraine Snelling (fiction): My response is somewhere between two and three. My assistant is convinced that a couple of books I wrote were so far from the outline that I could write thole books now and give readers a whole new book. I outline and work on the characters but when great ideas appear half way through, I am thrilled. That’s the story at work and I am the servant to the story.

Stephen Bly (fiction): I have NO IDEA where a story is going when I get started, so everything is a surprise. Sometimes I have a vague idea how it might end . . . but I’m never bound to that. I build strong characters and a dynamic setting, then put my characters into the scene and see what they do. Every day I write is a surprise. I love it. I just let the characters tell their own story. They are much better storytellers than I am, after all . . . it’s their lives.

Colleen Coble (fiction): I would choose number three. That’s the beauty of the writing process for me. I love seeing where the characters and plot are going to twist and change. I love seeing the spiritual theme come out in ways I never anticipated. I’ve tried forcing the characters and plot to conform to my original idea but it wasn’t fun for me. So I’ve never done it again.

Greg Smith (fiction): So far this is my answer – at least for the last two books.

Yvonne Lehman (fiction): My final draft turns out differently than how I originally envisioned it in that the initial idea and overview are like a flat balloon. Having written several books I’ve learned to expect the unexpected. That’s the exciting part of writing for me. My characters take on a life and as in real life, do astonishing things. When I first begin my story I’m concerned that my characters will remain as flat and dull as I first envision. However, to me at least, they take shape, become several dimensional and interesting.

Linda Clare (fiction): I’m definitely a “3” but hope to be a “2” as I gain experience in fiction.

Nick again: This was fun! I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you glean from this that there are many different ways to succeed at writing. Find the method that’s most comfortable to you. If the way you’re doing it now isn’t working, try another way. Keep experimenting, keep growing, keep writing!

Oh, and one more thing. If you’re unfamiliar with some of the writers in the survey, check out their works on Amazon. These people are succeeding at their craft. I’m learning from them and I hope you are too.