A Brief Conversation in the Lobby

[Writers Plot]

posted by guest blogger, Vincent H. O'Neil

Hi, Everybody.

This is the first time I have guest-blogged here (or anywhere, for that matter) so I want to start by thanking the folks at Writers Plot for inviting me to come along. As a new author, I might be expected to shamelessly peddle my two books at this point, but don't worry; that all happens a little later.

I had an interesting moment at last year's Malice Domestic convention in Arlington, Virginia. If you haven't had the chance to go, it is very well-attended and a lot of fun. Anyway, I had ducked out of the scheduled activities to take a dip in the hotel pool (I'm from Rhode Island, so believe me the pools here aren't open at that time of year) and was walking back toward the elevators when one of my fellow Malice attendees stopped me.

She was not yet published, and had a question about how to move her book from beginning to middle to end. To paraphrase, she said she knew how the story would unfold, but couldn't seem to put it into words.

I don't know about anybody else, but I've encountered this same issue many times and have been taught a few tricks that sometimes address it. I know there are a lot of different ways to approach this problem, but I usually follow the brute-force-and-ignorance method, by which I mean I outline the story from start to finish, examine every twist and turn to see if it makes sense (and makes sense for the characters), and then fill in the details until I find myself writing entire paragraphs in the outline.

This isn't how I write everything, but whenever I'm unsure how to proceed, this is what I do. When I reach the point where the outline contains entire paragraphs, that's when I know I've got a story from beginning to middle to end and I'm ready to really start putting down a lot of words.

I explained this technique to the lady who had asked the question, and there was this great moment when she smiled and said, "I get what you're saying." (I should tell you at this point that very few of my explanations end with someone saying those particular words). We talked some more, and I suggested she look at a couple of outlines and matrices I have posted on my website (www.vincenthoneil.com) and then I continued my walk toward the elevators.

Here is why I am telling you this story: I felt really good while walking away from that brief discussion. It is just so heartening to meet people who share our passion for reading and writing, and to be able to pass on the things we have learned, both from others and through our own trial and error. Too often we get tangled up in sales figures and reviews, and sometimes we miss the point of what we do: Writing is fun. Reading is fun. Talking about reading and writing is fun.

In case you're interested, I have posted the aforementioned tools (along with the slides from a couple of writing workshops I have conducted) on my website under the "For Writers" section. The slides will launch if you keep double-clicking long enough.

While you're there, you might also take a look at a sample chapter from my first novel, MURDER IN EXILE, which won the "Malice" award in 2005. I'd been receiving rejections for twenty years when I finally got published, so I will always be grateful to the volunteer judges and the good people at St. Martin's Press who run the competition. MURDER IN EXILE introduces amateur sleuth Frank Cole, a bankrupted northerner trying to restart his life in the Panhandle town of Exile, Florida. Working as a fact-checker for a local insurance outfit, Frank is asked to review a hit-and-run fatality that turns out to be anything but an accident.

I've also posted the first chapter from REDUCED CIRCUMSTANCES, the sequel to MURDER IN EXILE. Released by St. Martin's Press just a few days ago, it follows Frank as he takes a night job with a local taxi service and ends up answering questions about a missing driver, a teenaged runaway, and a drug bust gone bad.

See? Told you I'd get to the shameless book peddling.

Thanks for listening.