Writers in the Storm

by Pamela Morsi

As a writer without a plan, I don’t get invited to comment often on my writing process. Telling people, “oh, I just make it up as I go along” tends to annoy my colleagues and confuse newcomers. I’m an organic writer. Or at least that what Donald Maass calls it. Pardon the name dropping, but it’s Donald that got me into this gig.

Orly was reading his new book, 21^st Century Fiction and there I was on page whatever as an example of “layering” to create a big book feel. So Orly asked me to write a blog on how I do this.

See my quote above.

This organic business is something I liken to a musician who plays by ear. The inability to read sheet music or to know the difference between a bass clef and a bullhorn, has never limited those individuals who hear the music clearly and can translate that from their brains to their fingers.

I see those of us who are organic writers behaving much the same.

Believe me, I don’t typically encourage this style. Every book, every chapter, every line is like stepping forward in complete darkness. You don’t know where you’re going, what it might lead to, or if any sense of completion will be waiting for you when you get there. I tell people, if you can write any other way, do it.

However, when I was thinking about this layering thing I surprised myself. The way I’m looking at it, layering may actually come more easily with an organic method. Not knowing where you’re going or why, invariably leads to a lot of unexpected roadside attractions. And maybe a little field trip into the organic may help the more sane and structured writer seeking more strata in a storyline.

Let me start with a kind of definition of layering. It is the stuff that surrounds the stage. It’s the adjective to the novel as noun. It may or may not effect the direction of the plot, but even when it doesn’t, it still adds depth to the action and the characters. The story can exist without layers. And layers themselves won’t make a story. But when you put the two together, you can come up with something very special.

So how can I plan to do that?

Actually, the plan is the enemy of layering.

There is a lot of good advice in writers’ mags and blogs about coming up with a plan and sticking with it. Good advice like: stay on message. Good advice like: every action should move the plot along. Good advice like: if you don’t know the purpose of a scene, delete it.

Stop! Stop! You’re killing me.

Those of us who write without a plan clearly don’t know what the message is. Whether the action moves the plot along or if the scene we’ve just written has a purpose. Honestly, we can’t know until the book is done. Therefore we spend a good deal of our time wandering around in the wilderness, trying to ascertain our plot, understand our characters and visualize our setting.

The advantage of this is that these tangents, these rabbit trails cause us to include so much more in our stories. Layer after layer of unexpected sideshow. This can be such fresh insight and so unique that it single-handedly lifts the story out of the standard into the exceptional.

For those of us who are plan-free, we count on this. For those of you who know how to get your ducks lined up in a row, it can be a new and exciting exercise. And it doesn’t have to mean giving up the control that works for you. It’s simply learning to give your subconscious the benefit of the doubt on a regular basis.

I always tell people that my subconscious is a better writer than I am. It pulls my line of thinking this way and that. I never know why…until suddenly things start tying up. The wordy, off-topic space waster from chapter four frequently becomes the perfect analogy for the character’s growth in chapter 22. But I could not have seen it, if I hadn’t gone off message when I did.

So allow yourself the freedom to wander away from the plan. When you write something that intrigues you, allow yourself to scurry off in that direction. You will still be able to find your way back. And your subconscious may see bigger possibilities than you can.

Don’t allow expediency to be the enemy of depth.

All of us feel tremendous pressure to get the work out quickly. Readers are waiting. Hurry up! The direct route from point A to point B is always going to be fastest. Allowing yourself to wander through the maze of rabbit trails is not fast at all. You can spend a day writing 3,000 words and, in fact, make no forward progress.

To quote the great Carrie Fisher, “Do you want it good or do you want it tomorrow?”

This is a cliché, of course. Lots of fabulous writing is done very quickly. But sometimes, for some things, we may need to take it slow.

Is this one of those times?

Going down rabbit trails is only worth it if depth is important to the audience you’re writing for, or it’s important to you. There is definitely a readership out there that finds any deviation from the plotline a nuisance. And if your writing production method is working just fine as it is, please do not let anyone pressure you into fixing something that isn’t broken.

But if you and your readers want more layering than you are currently coming up with, you could give an organic field trip a shot. To do that, however, you will have to stop being a slave to daily word count. This muddled method is slow. And it takes the time that it takes.

For those who simply must stick to a schedule, maybe you could dedicate two hours a week to deliberately running off on tangents and down rabbit holes. Don’t take the two from your current work plan. Peel off a couple of hours from non-writing activities. That way you won’t feel so bad about wishy-washy results. Most of what you write may ultimately be worthless and highly delete-able, that is to be expected. Organic layering is a trial and error business. Don’t be discouraged. Even if you don’t use one word of what you’ve come up with, it still serves to feed the subconscious writer in you in the same way that many find journaling or blogging useful. And you may turn a blind corner around a high hedge to discover that one analogy, that one symbol, that one succinct phrase that lifts your story to the heights that it has always deserved.

Appreciate the complexity of the world. As writers, we frequently try to narrow down the universe to fit between the book covers. Whether you’re looking through a telescope or a microscope, a lot is happening in that little circle of vision. There is no way that you can portray all of that in a single book or even in an endless series. But you can remind your readers of all that is there.

Are you an organic writer? What is YOUR process? Do you have any questions for Pamela?

About Pamela

RWA Hall of Fame member, national bestseller and two-time RITA winner, Pamela Morsi was duly warned. Lots of people mistakenly think they are writers, her mother told her. She’d be smart to give it up before she embarrassed herself. Fortunately, she rarely took her mother’s advice. Her 26^th novel, LOVE OVERDUE, will be coming out in September from Mira Books. You can find her on -

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/PamelaMorsi/52601768362?fref=ts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PamelaMorsi

and on her website https://pamelamorsi.com

by Mary Burton

Remember the moment when you sat down to write your first novel?  Do you remember?  I remember mine.  It’s hard for me to believe but that moment was over twenty years and 26 books and four novellas ago.  Along the way, I’ve learned many valuable lessons and I thought I’d take a moment to share some with you today.

Surround yourself with like-minded people.  Early on in my career I joined a writer’s critique group.  We met at my house on Fridays and while my children napped we exchanged chapters and critiqued each others work.  It was exciting and encouraging to have time with folks like me who wanted the same dream.  These gals not only taught me a lot about writing and the business of publishing but also a great deal about friendship.

Writing is hard work.  Thomas Edison once said, “Genius is 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration.”  He could just as easily have been describing writers instead of inventors.  Inspiration or that initial spark of ideas is very exciting.  It is what gets us through that first blank page and dares us to step outside the box.  But in the end, it takes hard work and lots of time at the computer to bring a story to life.

Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers refers to the 10,000-hour rule.  What makes some of us good and some of us great?  What makes some of us hobbyists verses people with careers?  Basically he said:  practice makes perfect.  He reported it takes 10,000 hours of practice to reach proficiency.

I tried to estimate when I hit that 10,000-hour mark.  I started writing in 1994 and I’m thinking I didn’t hit my 10,000 hours until about 2004 or 2005.  I’d written 5 books by then and I was also beginning to feel really comfortable with my writing.  My point is that becoming a good writer takes time but becoming a published or great writer takes a lot more time.

Challenge Yourself.  Part of growing as a writer is to reach for the edge and push yourself creatively.  When I started writing I wrote historical romance novels set in the American West.  I loved writing these novels and wrote ten novels and two novellas for Harlequin Historical.  But I started to grow restless and wanted to try something different.  So I wrote my historicals in the morning and tinkered with a short romantic suspense in the afternoon.

It took over 18 months and a few rejections but I came up with a proposal for IN DARK WATERS, which sold to Harlequin Romantic Suspense.  I ended up writing four romantic suspense novels for Harlequin before I got the itch to try single title.  Again, another year or two would pass while I wrote the contracted work in the morning and the new ideas in the afternoon.  I sold my first single title romantic suspense, I’M WATCHING YOU, to Kensington in 2006 and now I am working on my eleventh novel for them. I love the genre and can’t imagine not writing it. However, along the way I got the idea to try women’s fiction.  It was one of those stories that just wouldn’t let me go.  It would take a couple of years, lots of rejections and rewrites to get the book just right, but I sold my first women’s fiction, THE UNION STREET BAKERY, under the name Mary Ellen Taylor to Berkley Trade.

Why do I keep reaching for something new?  It’s hard to explain but I know each time I reach for the edge I learn so much about myself as a writer.  Challenging myself not only keeps me sharp creatively but also hones my writing.  For me keeping it all fresh means challenging myself whenever I can.

Stick to a routine.  I learned early on that if I didn’t write every day my skills quickly became rusty.  If I took a week or two break in between books I found it tough to sit down and get the creative muse talking again.  So I decided I’d write every day.  During the week, I set regular office hours from about 9 to 5.  At the beginning of each month I pencil in daily page goals on my calendar because those daily deadlines keep me on task.  And on the weekends if I’m not at a conference, I touch base with my story.  Even if I only have a few minutes I sit down and devote my mind to the book.

Take care of yourself.  There have been times when I burned the candle at both ends. I realized it got harder and harder to be creative when I was tired, not eating well or missing my daily gym workouts. For me, creative energy is akin to the dove in the mine.  You know that story about the dove?  Hundreds of years ago before ventilation systems in mines, the miners would put a caged dove in the mine.  If the dove wobbled, they knew the air was bad.  If it died, the air they breathed was killing them.  These days, I still work hard but I’m at the gym six days a week and I eat very clean.  Taking care of yourself physically nurtures your creativity and keeps the words flowing.

Rejection is part of the business.  It’s easy for me to look back at the 26 novels and four novellas that I’ve written and forget that the road was bumpy at times.  Though I never liked rejection I appreciated that just the thought of it kept me on my toes.  It still not only keeps me alert but forces me to always dig deep and put all I have into the current book.

Jim Collins in his book Good to Great analyzes what makes some companies good and others great.  He speaks over and over again about hard work and constancy. “Greatness,” he said, “is not a matter of circumstance.  Greatness is a matter of conscious choice and discipline.”

We’ve got to choose every day to find our way to the computer and work at the trade we all love so much.  We’ve chosen a tough business.  We are trying to pull value from our imaginations and that is difficult.

But difficult doesn’t mean impossible.  It means hard work.  Dedication.  And a willingness to stick with the job even when the words aren’t flowing.

About Mary

After a career in marketing MARY BURTON shifted gears and became a full time writer.  Her latest suspense novels include THE SEVENTH VICTIM (January 2013) and NO ESCAPE (November 2013).  Under the name MARY ELLEN TAYLOR she also writes women’s fiction including THE UNION STREET BAKERY (February 2013) and SWEET EXPECTATIONS (November 2013).   Mary is a member of Romance Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and Mystery Writers of America.

Today Fae Rowen wraps up her series on attachment models and the science of falling in love. If you missed Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, or Part 4 where she describes the early childhood adaptations and the "repairs" for each of the four attachments styles, you can link to any one by clicking on the part you missed.

by Fae Rowen

I just returned from repeating the workshop that inspired this series. By the end of the first day of classes four months ago, I knew I'd found a treasure trove of help to make my characters–and their backstories–real and believable.

I'm embarrassed to admit that this time, at the end of the first day, I leaned over to a friend who also repeated the class and whispered, "That's a new Powerpoint isn't it?" To my dismay, my friend shook her head. "They're all the same slides as before." No wonder I needed to take the class twice!

Just a brief re-cap, in case you're like me and need some reminders:

• As infants, our attachment styles developed based on the actions of our caregivers.
• We adapted our natural tendency for a secure attachment style to survive our  situations.
• All attachment style adaptations can be repaired to the secure style.
• When you find someone who helps you with the "repairs" it's quite natural to fall in love with that person because you finally feel safe.
• Our attachment style influences how we interact with people as adults.

Scientific brain research has shown that we are biologically hard-wired to bond and belong, even though we have a separate biologically-driven instinct to survive.  The brain is a social organ. Mirror neuron provide a system for humans to connect, allowing us to be in another's shoes.

Take, for instance, the "couple bubble." The hormones stimulated--opiate-like endorphins or cortisol for stress--are released whenever two people interact.

When you are in a secure relationship, you "co-regulate" with your partner. When my husband has told me, "Relax. It's not that bad," he's co-regulated with me by diffusing the ramping-up of my anger or anxiety. Your partner--or friends--co-regulate by helping you work through difficult situations either just by listening or by offering advice. You can even co-regulate with your pets. (You've heard how holding a pet  can lower blood pressure, right?) When you are "regulated," feelings come and go like the weather. They don't get stuck.

We can learn to self-regulate, a by-product of the secure attachment style, but  co-regulation with a partner creates more resiliency--physically, medically, and emotionally. Resiliency creates a buffer to stress and trauma later in life. No wonder studies show that married couples tend to live longer!

Try this little experiment. Look at something around you right now that you need "to do."  Now close your eyes and feel that in your body. Open your eyes and look at a beloved pet or just gaze at an image--real or imagined--of someone you love. Did you feel your gaze soften? That's a physical manifestation of secure attachment.

Did you know that Darwin mentioned love ninety-five times in The Descent of Man? He said that what is important in humans is adaptability,  the ability to cope with change

How does this research help you develop characters?

• The capacity to shift  back and forth between emotional states and not get stuck is the key to resiliency, health and well-being. As your characters fall in love, you can show this in their behavior as they are quicker to come to a solution or action and not spiral into the depths of their painful pasts.
• Unresolved traumatic stress characteristics stuck in "off": flaccid tone, depression, mask-like face, cognitive dulling, lethargy, weakness, exhaustion, chronic fatigue, disorientation, disconnection, dissociation, collapse, low blood pressure, constipation
• Unresolved traumatic stress characteristics stuck in "on:: constriction, bracing, anxiety, panic, rage, hypersensitivity, body pain, hyperactivity, easily startled, hyper-vigilance, digestive problems, emotional flooding, tightness, sleeplessness
• When you really connect with another person, you feel their pain. We are attuned to the micro-movements in the  face and eyes of  our  beloved. Your characters can recognize that "something in the way she held her jaw differently" and bond  when one attempts to lessen the pain of the other.
• When showing co-regulation, your reader will identify with the  relationship through their own co-regulation memories
• Rapid movements are more  alarming that slow movements
• Use the fovea, the part of the eye that reflects light we when feel secure, as in "When she saw me approach, all the candles in the ballroom reflected at me."
• Tone of voice, tempo/rhythm of speech, inflection, facial expressions, movement and gesture, intensity, vitality all brighten when we are engaged in secure attachment. Your reader will "get" this when you specifically show this in your body language.
• Secure attachment encourages playing. Remember when you've seen a somber character loosen up and become playful?
• "Can't think" is part of the stress response. This is how we end up in flight-fight-freeze mode.
• Have you ever seen something out of the corner of your eye and turned but  it was gone? Peripheral vision creates threat responses. Body language to show threat response: dry mouth, brace, arrested movement (freeze), along with bold feelings.  Caution-Survival/threat responses take precedence over love responses.
• Emotional "arc" for a threat response: irritation, worry, anger/fear, rage/terror, overwhelm, fight/flight/freeze, defenses restored, completion & discharge (crying, shaking, sweating)
• The Avoidant style is more apt for dissociative behavior and stuffs their feelings because they don't want to feel
• The Anxious/Ambivalent style is most likely to have panic attacks
• The Disorganized/Disoriented style deeply wants to feel protected by another and is hyper-vigilant and hyper-sensitive in relationships

And your readers will fall in love with your characters while your hero and heroine fall in love--because they're hard-wired to recognize the develop of a secure attachment, even without knowing the science behind it. Here's a review of the character traits that show a secure  attachment is developing:

1. Unflappable trust
2. Presence in the relationship
3. Safe and protective
4. Affirming, positive
5. Consistency, reliability
6. Playfulness
7. Attuned and resonant with the feelings of the other
8. Reciprocity in communication
9. Welcoming, affectionate
10. Ease in coming and going
11. Predictability

Try a couple of "love bombs" in your dialogue: "I'm thinking about you" and, of course, "I love you."

I must thank Patti Elledge, the facilitator of the DARe 1 training, for presenting the  material in an easy-to-understand format with "a drop of compassion." This mathematician had no glitches with psychological terms or language. You can visit Diane Poole Heller's website if you are interested in the training or if you'd just like to take the Attachment Styles Quiz.

I thought  I could share this information in one post. But even five didn't allow me to work in everything  I've learned, like the language of the "felt sense" and the five languages of love. Please bear with me if I am compelled to share more body language and character writing tips based on Attachment Theory in the future.

In November I'll be attending the next workshop–Adult Attachment Styles. I'm sure I'll learn even more about how to show the love bonds forming between my characters. Who knew that a workshop for professional therapists would provide such richness for a writer!

References you might  be interested in:

Wired for Love by Stan Tatkin

Six-minute You Tube on Emotion by Dr. Alan Schore

Nine-minute You Tube on Joy by Dr Alan Schore