Life and art

Barbara here. In her Monday blog, Aline talked about the pitfalls and joys of research, which can suck hours, even days, out of one's writing schedule. She mentioned the delights of wandering from link to link on the internet, an armchair adventure that can consume an entire morning with ease. As an aside, I confess these armchair adventures can consume entire mornings with ease even when I don't have the excuse of research. Yesterday I managed to restrict myself to two Facebook quizzes and one amazing pet story, but some days I am a sucker for every come-hither headline.

Aline also mentioned the joy of spending hours talking directly to experts. It's all research, right, and we learn such fascinating things. Who else has a job where they can explore antique dolls one day and post-traumatic stress another? Rarely a dull moment in the life of a writer. Such research also serves as busy work and a nice distraction when we can't think where on earth to go next in the novel.

But one of my favourite types of research is physical location scouting. One can learn a lot about a place by researching on the web. Google Earth, maps and Street view can show us the layout. Numerous websites can tell us more than we might ever need about the history, culture, and make-up of a place. Online videos, photos, and travel blogs can round out the objective statistics with visual and personal input. It is possible to write an entire novel set in a place without ever having laid eyes on it. Possible, and sometimes necessary, but never ideal.

In my view, there is no substitute for standing in that place, surrounded on all sides, hearing, seeing, and breathing it. No amount of imagination or conjuring can make up for the specific, concrete reality. I always try to visit the places I write about, even if it is just one scene in the book, and that visit almost always adds a dimension or rich detail to the story. A small example occurred to me today. I had taken a two-day road trip to the Laurentian Mountains north of Montreal to check out the location of my current book in progress. If my character was going to spend 300 pages in the Laurentian wilderness, I needed to know what she was going to encounter. I'd been to the Laurentians many times, but never that place. Never with a writer's eye.

I had in mind a particular village, but in driving around, I stopped for gas and discovered a much more picturesque and interesting village near by. I walked around to take pictures (another aspect of my research) and wandered over to look at what I thought was a classic French Canadian graveyard beside the little white church. As was typical of rural Quebec, the graveyard was presided over by a large concrete statue of the Virgin Mary cloaked in blue. I read tombstones, always a potential source of last names. Imagine my surprise when they weren't Sauve or Paradis or Levesque, but Majic, Solinski, and other long Polish names.

Here was an interesting twist. A Polish settlement in the middle of traditional, French Catholic, rural Quebec. I don't know what I will do with this tidbit yet, maybe no more than a mention, but maybe a major character will emerge with that background. There were many more delightful discoveries on that trip. The sound of a creek gurgling over fallen leaves, the moss clinging to boulders... All of it adds not just authenticity and accuracy to the story, but also a richness and texture that internet and book research cannot.

And the best part of it all, I get to go on mini-vacations and experience places I wouldn't normally see. Up close and personal, as I try to see them through a writer's eye. And what could be better than that? If it takes up a couple of days or even several weeks, it's worth it in the end. If not to my writing, at least to me!

Hearing voices

Barbara here. Last week, John Corrigan wrote a thoughtful blog about empathy, and specifically about the challenge of slipping into the shoes of his protagonist who differs from him in outlook and gender. Being surrounded by a wife, daughters, female colleagues and students (as well as a female dog) helps him to hear the female voice. I find it interesting to read books by close friends and to hear their own voice in the voices of their same-sexed protagonists. For fifteen years I have written from the point of view of a middle-aged male cop with a phobia for nature and a stubborn, impatient streak. When asked how I slipped into his shoes, I gave an answer similar to John's, although in many ways Green and I are more alike than surface traits would suggest, and I can tap into that vein inside myself to get into his head.

Since I've embarked on my new Amanda Doucette series, I am now writing from the POV of a thirty-something woman who (despite our age differences) is a lot more like me in terms of values, interests, and spirit than Green is. I thought this would be an easy switch for me; in fact I was concerned about my own personality bleeding into hers. But instead, I find it difficult to capture her voice. There are two male 'co-stars' or sidekicks in the series who also have their own POV scenes, and I have found it much easier to slip into their thoughts and reactions than those of Amanda.

Initially I thought it was because she was a new character and I didn't know her very well yet. There is some truth to that, but I have already completed one novel about her and am well into the first draft of my second. And I find myself effortlessly slipping into the shoes of the two male sidekicks.

There are two aspects to capturing the essence of a character on the page. First is getting her behaviour right. How would this character react, what would they do next, what would they say? The character guides the direction and evolution of the scene by their actions in it. I have found I can do this with Amanda. I DO know her. I know when she's outraged, afraid, amused...

The second part, however, is getting the inner monologue right. Our characters react to things not just overtly but by their private observations, judgments, and thoughts. Through these little snippets, the character draws the reader in and takes them along on the journey. It is this inner monologue I am having trouble hearing. She doesn't talk to me naturally as I write. I always have to stop and ask her, puzzle over what she is saying to herself.

Is it because after all these years, I am more at home creating a man's voice (my Rapid Reads series also has a male protagonist)? Is it because I am more concerned with getting her "just right" because she carries the weight of the series on her shoulders? Am I second-guessing the thoughts she has, trying to make sure she's not me? Trying to make sure she has enough complexity and appeal? Trying to make sure she is unique and compelling?

When I creating Green, I stumbled upon him and created him bit by bit as the series developed. I didn't know I was creating a series character and luckily hadn't read all the advice about how to make him unique and memorable. I hadn't read countless reviews reducing main characters to a string of cliches. Men were gritty, women were feisty, everyone was flawed. So perhaps now I am too aware of these pitfalls, and my inner editor is shutting Amanda off before she can really get into full swing.

This is not to say that she is an empty shell. She's a great character. From the very beginning, I have been very excited about who she is and what she is trying to do, and I think she's a unique character worth spending time with. But she has been through a life-changing ordeal, and she is guarded. She doesn't let people in easily, and it's fascinating to me that that includes me!

My books are written in third-person. It is infinitely easier to find a character's voice when writing in first person. The moment you write the word "I", you are in their head. Because my books are multiple POV, I can't do that, but as an exercise and writing aide, I'm going to write a few Amanda scenes in first person to see if I can hear her more clearly. That's my task for the next few days. Stay tuned! And if any of you have experience with this dilemma, I'd love to hear it.