The list began with this.  A number of famous authors, Mark Twain, Marcel Proust, and Edith Warton, among others, liked to write lying down. Note none of them were using computers? I could write propped up in bed, I suppose, with my computer on a stand but don’t quite see the point. By the time I moved all my equipment in place and snuggled in for the count, I would have to make a trip to the bathroom. It’s inevitable. Then the process would begin all over again. So scratch that one, as well as the one about writing standing up. It wouldn’t impede bathroom trips, but I’m tired just thinking about it.

Next I learned that taking a bike ride or walking without a destination might jump start my creativity. Have I ever mentioned that I didn’t learn to ride a bike until I was twelve, and only then because I was tricked? I am still the founding mother of the expression “hell on wheels.”  If trips to the emergency room are good for creativity, then bring on the bicycles.

As for walking without a destination? I have lived in enough places where wandering mindlessly is a death sentence, or at least a recipe for a good old-fashioned mugging, so I kind of like to know where I am and why. Let’s scratch that one, too.

As I already knew, lots of writers are best served by music blasting as they work. I began my college life as a music major, and after one entire year of sight-singing classes, I still have a bad habit of do-re-mi-ing every piece of music I hear. Since that’s easily translated into my piano-playing fingers, I can imagine that piece of dialogue:  ”Joe, I really can’t so, la, re, find a way to tell you that mi, ti, do.”  Not going to happen.

Here’s a fact I didn’t need to know. John Cheever wrote in his underwear. Mr. Cheever apparently didn’t begin his career with small children underfoot. And now that the small children have children of their own, I am not so enchanted with the body that bore them that I want to literally gaze at my navel as I write. Scratch that one, too. Please!

Invoking divine inspiration? Well, quite honestly, I save my conversations with the Almighty for things like world peace, ending hunger, asking forgiveness. So, no, that’s probably not going to work for me. As for using someone else’s meditation? I would have to memorize it, wouldn’t I? Me, who couldn’t recite my PO Box number on the telephone yesterday.

I’ve skipped a few rituals, but I’ll finish with the most perplexing. Have a drink or two. Really? This worked so well for F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda that I should give it a whirl? Try googling “alcoholic writers” for entire websites devoted to the subject, including this one, which lists 15 greats, including Edgar Allen Poe, Hunter Thompson, Faulkner, Joyce and Hemingway. Was alcohol key to their brilliance?  Don’t you wonder how many wondrous works they didn’t write because they couldn’t hold a pen after a night on the town?

Here’s the truth. Almost anything that helps you sit down and write your novel is good. In the long run, it’s not the ritual but the sitting and doing that wins the day.

So that’s where I’ll leave you today. The 9th Strange Ritual? Sitting down and writing. The good news is that nothing is stranger and more wonderful.

Diane Chamberlain and I have been chatting back and forth for the past two weeks, covering subjects like how to present “unsympathetic” characters sympathetically, character growth and change, whether characters become real to us, and more. If you missed the previous posts, you can scroll down here for my portions, and visit Diane’s blog, as well, to find the whole conversation. Today we’re concluding with some questions our blog readers have asked along the way.

As a special treat everyone who commented on either of our blogs is eligible for a book giveaway. Diane’s Summer’s Child, and my Sunset Bridge. We’ll let random.org choose our winners on Sunday, and you have until Saturday midnight to comment.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our back and forth. We thought it would be a fun way for you to get to know us and our books, and your comments have affirmed that. Diane and I always enjoy a good conversation, so we’re glad we could share this one with you.

Here’s our final portion of that conversation.

Diane: Meredith also asked a “non-character-specific” question I’ll turn over to you, Emilie: “How do you get started on a book?” Since you and I are nearly ready to start our next novels, that’s a good question!

Emilie: Story ideas come from the oddest places. A snippet of conversation. A glimpse of someone’s life. I’m particularly fond of creating books from titles–which is why I hate to have mine changed by my publishers. Once the glimmer of an idea presents itself, I let it simmer. Often two ideas collide at the same time and turn out to be meant for each other, even though it wasn’t love at first sight. Once I have enough to play with, I spend time considering possibilities, jotting them down into what I call my “Scenes and Revelations” file, in no particular order. Eventually that assumes the shape of an outline or a synopsis, and I’m in business.

Diane, do you work differently?

Diane: Emilie, I think I do work in a similar fashion, and what strikes home for me in what you said is “two ideas collide at the same time.” I love taking two diverse ideas and seeing what happens when I throw them together. My favorite example is The Escape Artist. I had two ideas: 1) a woman on the run with her little son, and 2) a woman buys a used computer and discovers information on it that must go to the police. When I turned those women into one woman–she’s on the run, so she can’t go to the police–I had a real story.

On my blog, Sheree asked us if we worry about a strong character from someone else’s story creeping into our own writing. What do you think?

Emilie: I do know writers who refuse to read fiction when they’re writing, for that very reason, but that means I wouldn’t be able to read at all. I do try to make sure I’m not reading similar material. For instance, I’ve never read any of Jennifer Chiavarini’s quilt series, simply because I don’t want to worry about inadvertently absorbing material or characters from her work to use in my own quilt series. 

I think we filter everything we write through our own experiences, so even if something about someone else’s character resonates for us and we find ourselves isolating that quality and playing with it, whatever we come up with is unique.

Same or different for you? And let’s finish with one more reader’s question, asked by Anne on your blog. When you’re writing one book, do you have your next book in mind, or do you wait until you have a finished project before thinking about your next?

Which you know, Diane.  Time’s always key, isn’t it?  But we can always make time for a chat like this one.

Diane and I both thank you for reading along with us.

And don’t forget!  We’re giving away copies of Diane’s Summer’s Child and my Sunset Bridge.  So comment or ask a question to enter the random giveaway.

Enjoy.

Oh, there are books to give away, too.

See you there and here.

Take it away, Joanna.

“Friendship however is a plant which cannot be forced — true friendship is no gourd spring up in a night and withering in a day.”  ― Charlotte Brontë, The Letters of Charlotte Brontë

Although many of you “know” Emilie through her books and her blog, I’m privileged to know Emilie in a different way, as a friend.  A real life person who sends me emails that say, “Let’s get caught up” and best of all, “Want to come over for dinner?” She’s also the person who early on encouraged me to write a mystery series. I often call her “Kiki Lowenstein’s godmother” because Emilie gave me the idea that became the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series.

As you probably realize, Emilie is the sort of friend you always hope will come into your life. She’s loving, honest and loyal. For me, she’s also been a career asset, because a mentor like Emilie is hard to find. She’s been there by my side, every step of the way, offering me invaluable counsel, based on her extensive knowledge of the book business.

And yeah, she makes a pretty mean jambalaya, too!

When I sat down to write a sequel to Charlotte Brontë’s classic Jane Eyre, I gave a great deal of thought to populating Jane’s world. After all, our friends define us. They teach us, lead us, and shape us. Helen Burns, Jane’s first real friend, encouraged her to get an education and to succeed. Without Helen, Jane might never have considered going to work as a governess.

For Jane to be successful in London, where her first adventure takes her, she needed a friend conversant in the ways of high society. I created for her a first class BFF by the name of Lucy Brayton, a woman who is everything that Jane is not, but very much like Jane when it comes to intellect, bravery, and loyalty.

You see, one of our author “tricks” involves juxtaposing one personality against its opposite. Where Jane is an introvert, Lucy is an extrovert. Where Jane thinks before she speaks, Lucy is given to bloviating. (Don’t you love that word? It means to talk at length, but there’s something about it that always brings to mind a cow. Of course, that’s bovine, and this isn’t, but still…) Where Jane is sheltered, Lucy is worldly.

In the beginning, Jane is uncomfortable around Lucy. Lucy is most definitely a “hugger,” and Jane is not. You know how that goes. If you aren’t a hugger, you stiffen up. If you are a hugger, you throw your arms around people you barely know. But in time, Jane comes to enjoy Lucy’s affection.

My goal is for Jane and Lucy to have a long, rich and joyful friendship.

The kind I’ve had with Emilie.

Joanna Campbell Slan’s newest series, The Jane Eyre Chronicles, debuts August 7, with Death of a Schoolgirl. In it, a married Jane Eyre answers a cry for help from her former student, Adéle Varens. Rushing to the girl’s aid, Jane discovers that a murderer walks the halls of a London girls’ school. The plucky former governess must match wits with a killer—before another child loses her life!

To learn more about Joanna or this series, please visit her website.

I’ve interviewed Diane at Southern Exposure before, but today Diane has agreed to talk more specifically about the way she writes.  Her newest book
The Good Father just arrived at bookstores, so I thought it would be fun to ask her how that story grew and changed, and what she did to nudge it along.

I’ve been a writer nearly . . . well, never mind, but I’m still fascinated by the way that my colleagues work. As I’ve said here before, we’re all different. Translated that means: There is no right way to write a book, only the way that works best for each individual author. So let’s see what works for Diane.

Diane, I know you’ve been asked a million times where you find your ideas. Can you share where the specific idea for The Good Father originated?  

Nearly every morning, I take my work to a local coffee shop. One morning, a young guy came in with a little girl. They looked so out of place there and my imagination kicked into high gear. Was he her father? Could he have kidnapped her? And what if he asked me to watch her for a minute while he ran out to his car and never back? I had my story. At least I had the jumping off point. Unfortunately, that’s the easy part!

What’s the strangest way an idea occurred to you?

Well, before I got into working in coffee shops, I took my work to Taco Bell. One day, the two women sitting behind me were talking about a friend of theirs whose ex-husband was fighting for custody of their infant son. One of the women said “If that happened to me, I’d change my name and take my baby and move to another state.” I had my story. . . or half of my story. When I got home, I turned on my new laptop computer to jot down my thoughts.

The laptop was “pre-owned”, which was why the store sold it to me at such a good price. The first owner had left some intriguing documents on the computer, including a letter to a friend in which he discussed a cover-up of an very serious error that had been made in his workplace. So, I wondered, what if my character who is on the run with her baby buys a computer and discovers information that should go to the authorities, but she can’t take it to them because she’s on the run? I loved stumbling across two ideas in one day that combined so perfectly. I wish that would happen more often. (By the way, that book is The Escape Artist).

Everyone who reads this blog knows I’m an outliner.  Do you plan up front or do you sit down and let the story surprise you? 

I’m an obsessive outliner. You’re the only other author I know who outlines to the degree I do, and I think you and I have both learned how beneficial a thorough outline can be. For me, though, the first outline usually needs to be completely overhauled after I start writing, as my characters come to life and I get deeper into the research. I feel much more confident after I create that second outline, and yet I know the story is still going to surprise me. The characters are sure to do something I never expected. I love when that happens because I think if I’m surprised, my readers will be as well.

Did you see lots of changes in The Good Father as you wrote?

Oh, yes. I don’t think you can have a four-year-old girl in a book and not have lots of unexpected twists and turns.

Characters have a habit of transforming from our original vision of them to something quite different once they begin to walk and talk on the page.  Was that true for this novel?  Can you give us a before and after?

Travis, the 22-year-old dad in The Good Father, does indeed leave his little girl with a woman in a coffee shop. I originally imagined that woman, Erin, to be middle aged (I guess I was still thinking of myself in her situation) and unfamiliar with children. But when I first “met” her in the book, she morphed into a woman in her mid-thirties, and she was sitting in the coffee shop chatting with an online grief group on her iPad because she’d recently lost her young daughter.

Yes, it all came to me that quickly. When I create a situation in a book–a man leaves his child with a stranger–I try to create characters who will have the hardest time dealing with that situation because that makes the most engaging story. And who would have a more difficult time than a woman who’d recently lost her own child? Sometimes I just want to hug my characters for showing me the path!

Your novels are complex studies of human nature, and we aren’t always meant to love your characters, but we always understand them.  How do you make certain that even if a reader disagrees with something a character has done, she or he will still empathize with that person’s choices?  Can you give us an example from The Good Father?

Meantime, my wonderful friends are busily publishing books.  And many of them are giving away copies to lucky readers.  So for fun I thought I’d list a few giveaways to tantalize you.  What better way to find a new author to love?

First, right here on this blog, Joanna Campbell Slan gave a wonderful interview and you still have until midnight to comment on that particular post to win one of two paper copies of Paper, Scissors, Death or one of Joanna’s Kindle short stories.

Next, if you haven’t commented on any of my List posts for the month of April, then by all means, do.  I’ll draw a winner for an autographed book at month’s end.  There were two different lists to choose from: All Those Things I Don’t Want to Read About and Forever and Always.  By the way, I was amazed at the number of you who don’t like paranormal elements in your novels.  (Just a side note.)

Have you tried the website Fresh Fiction?  Right now they have a massive number of giveaways in progress.  I’ve given away cool things there myself, and the only thing you should know is that by entering, you’re signed up for the newsletter of the author giving away his/her book and assorted goodies.

Bookreporter gives away advance copies of upcoming books, and has a wonderful newsletter to boot.  Remember Serena Miller, who I interviewed here?  Through Bookreporter her publisher is giving away 50 copies of her new book to lucky readers–and you will be lucky if you get one, since I’ve read it and it’s wonderful.

Last but not least, Book Trib is doing a smash-up scavenger hunt for my buddy Diane Chamberlain, with giveaways and all kinds of fun.  This is one promo event you don’t want to miss.  Meantime tune in next Tuesday for a Write Way blog with Diane, who’s going to tell us a little about the new book, The Good Father, and the way she writes.

That should keep you busy, right?  Good luck and have fun.  Remember, you can’t have too many good books to read.  It’s scientifically impossible.

Although I’ve yet to read True Sisters, I am especially looking forward to this one since I’ve always particularly enjoyed Mormon history.  Besides, I just listened to and loved The Bride’s House, set in Georgetown, Colorado in a house Sandra has just–in real life–renovated.  The fascinating story of the renovation is here, and definitely worth reading, along with the book itself.  And after “hearing” The Bride’s House on Audible, I’m ready for another Sandra fix.

Without further introduction, here’s the interview Sandra graciously gave me for your enjoyment.  I ought to add that she also gave me something else very precious, a quote for my upcoming novel One Mountain Away.  You’ll find it on the back cover.

1–What led you to write a novel based on the Mormon handcart journey from Iowa City to Salt Lake? What was ‘special’ about this particular piece of history that called to you?

As a high school student in Salt Lake City, I was intrigued by the handcart expedition, especially the stories of the women who participated in what was the worst Overland Trail disaster in U.S. history. More than one in four of the 575 members of the Martin Handcart Company (one of five handcart companies that made the 1,300 mile trek in 1856) died from exposure or starvation. Several years ago I read David Roberts’ critical history of the handcart expedition, Devil’s Gate, and realized what a wonderful novel the women’s stories would make. The Mormon women, wrote Wallace Stegner, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of western history, “were incredible.” And so they were. Their faith and courage inspire me

2–I am always so impressed with your research. You have a way of setting your reader right into the middle of an era. I particularly love your use of language in vogue at the time, both slang and phrasing. Can you tell us a little about the research process for you?

Many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormons) kept journals or wrote narratives of their journeys to Utah. The LDS Church once restricted access to these sources but in recent years has not only made them available, but made them available online. In addition to researching the handcart expedition and the LDS church, I visited many of the sites in the book, including the Mormon encampment near Iowa City, Ft. Laramie, and Devil’s Gate, where so many emigrants died. I could feel the sacredness of that place. As for language, much of it comes from Mormon journals and accounts. I read Scottish books to get dialect and read Charles Dickens to capture language that would have been used by English converts. My characters don’t speak exactly the way people spoke in the mid-19th century. Readers couldn’t get through a book written that way. But I use enough of the language to give a feel of the period.

3–Mormonism is an important part of the Western historical experience, but writing about someone else’s faith can be a harrowing, humbling experience. Did you find ways to approach this peek into Mormon history that made the writing and plotting less stressful?

I wondered if, as a Presbyterian, I would be presumptuous writing about someone else’s religion. But the handcart story goes beyond religious history. It is western history, American history. These are the women who settled the west, and that’s my heritage. Moreover, as a nonMormon, I felt I would be less tempted to write a faith-promoting book, that I could be more objective.

4–Other novels you’ve written have followed the intertwined lives of women, including The Bride’s House, which was your last novel and followed three generations living in a wonderful Georgetown, Colorado Victorian home (which just happens to be based on a house you actually own.) What is it about relationships among women that makes a book come to life for you?

I wish I could answer that. Writing is lonely work, and I have a limited circle of women friends. A friend once said I write about relationships among women not because I have them but because I admire them.

5–You’re known as a quilt author, based for the most part on your second novel The Persian Pickle Club–one of my all time favorites. You’ve also done a fabulous non-fiction book, The Quilt that Walked to Golden, with your photographer daughter. What is it about quilts and quilters that has spoken to you through your writing career?

As you know yourself, Emilie, it’s the friendship that develops around the quilt frame that is so appealing. Quilting draws women together. As they work, they share their stories. In addition, quilting is women’s art. At a time when few women were encouraged to pursue the fine arts, they put their creativity into quilts. They could have made quilts of big patches of fabric. Such quilts would have kept the family warm. But instead, they chose to piece the quilt tops in intricate designs. I’m not much of a quilter myself—the quilt I made for my sister as a wedding present weighted 25 pounds. But I love to collect them.

6–And last, but never least, please tell us what we have to look forward to in the future. Did I hear something about a book for children?

My next book is The Quilt Walk, a children’s book about a young girl who pieces a quilt as she walks from Illinois to Colorado in 1864. It’s based on a story on my Colorado quilt history, The Quilt That Walked to Golden. The children’s book, which is scheduled for publication in September, is about women’s lives in the 19th century, their lack of options (something I’ve written about in my adult novels) and what happens when they take things into their own hands.

As Sandra’s friend and a reader, I urge you to give all her wonderful novels a try.  Thank you, Sandra, for your insights and this interview.

You may note that the trade paperback version is expensive.  That’s a reflection of the size.  Remember, twenty-eight authors! Luckily size isn’t important with e-books, so the e-version is more than reasonable.  In fact it’s a steal.

And if you want a real steal?  Visit the NINC website here, sign up to receive occasional email blasts about other books coming up from NINC authors, and receive Set Pieces, a free ebook containing entertaining excerpts from fourteen new novels coming out from NINC members.

Are you wondering what NINC is?  Novelists, Inc. is the only writer’s organization devoted to the needs of multi-published authors.  NINC is, in short, an organization for writers serious about their careers.  I’m sure that at least half of what I know about publishing has come from my membership in this organization.  In fact it’s the only writer’s organization I’m a member of.

I was unable to participate in this volume, but I hope to be part of a future one.  Meantime I can’t wait to see what my colleagues have written.  As a reader I know I’ll be in the best of hands.

 Purchase the Ninc Anthology Now:

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