What comes first - characters or story?

The January issue of RWA's publication, RWR, Romance Writer's Report had some great articles brimming with insights. Something Maria Connor wrote in her article, New Year, Renewed Focus, really tapped my writing brain, more like banged on it with a ball-peen hammer. "...play to your strengths; the aspects of writing that you do well and love to do." And a quote from former Silhouette Senior Editor Valerie Hayward echoes her advice: "Commit to being really, really good at what you do best instead of focusing on what needs to be fixed. It's way more fun and affirming."

So simple, right?

I know my strengths as a writer are well-defined characters and comfortable, realistic dialogue. That part of writing comes easy for me. I know my people, hear them, see them, know their body language, how they respond to anything said to them. From the first day of my journey to taking writing seriously and not add it to my list of hobbies, I haven't struggled with those two aspects of writing. It's the storyline that is the weak brick in my writing wall. Characters, professions, language, settings, how the characters meet and interact I can do. Taking those images and ideas and turning them into a really good story is my biggest challenge. I do manage to get there, with more ease than I used to, and tell the story as best I can.

I can thank my characters for that. They write their own stories. I'm simply their conduit and fingerpower. Veering away from common occupations and the people working them is one of my favorite aspects of character development. Like in 'Renovation Road', a story of mine in the 2010 holiday anthology, Comfort and Joy, the lead female character is an 18-wheel truck driver. Darby hauls cars for a living, a Florida to Wyoming route this time around. She's got a stowaway in one of her cars, an adult male running from his life. Now, when I started working the story I wasn't exactly sure what Jamison was running from but eventually his story played out. Darby decides to invite him to ride with her in the truck cab, praying that she doesn't regret the decision.



Here's Darby's side of things:

****
She'd never been good at hiding her feelings and had a couple that had snuck up on her. Apprehension for one. Not a lot but enough to get her attention. She'd taken on a large, unknown male passenger, so a little apprehension was valid. And invited said passenger to strip and cozy up in some of her towels. Then there was that supid promise not to peek. She'd sounded like a sleazy dressing room attendant.

But excitement topped everything. The potential danger of the situation and the risk she'd taken was kind of exciting.

Not bad for only five AM.

*****
I wanted to put a little twist on the White Knight scenario, make it the lady doing the saving rather than the man. Not an easy thing for a forty something man to admit he's comfortable with, or wants. Here's a little insight into Jamison's thinking while he's sitting in a jail cell:

****
I'm sorry I led you to think I needed a ride because my car had broken down. But you coming to that truck stop was the best thing that had happened to me in a long time. I couldn't risk..."

Darby squinted into the gloom of the cell. "You couldn't risk what?"

"Losing a way to get away from there. I couldn't risk losing...you." A long breath escaped him. "I thought you were a man. If I'd known you were a woman, I probably wouldn't have done what I did."

She smirked. "Really. Have a problem with female truck drivers, do you?"

****

A question to you: what comes first, your characters or your stories? Does a character guide your way to and through your story, or does your story shape who will tell it?

As always, happy writing!

Polly
www.pmccrillis.com

Sun, sand and books

My daughter and I returned home from our Girls Road Trip 2010 last week. We made a round trip 2500 mile loop from our SW Missouri home to the north east coast of Florida, not far from where we lived for eighteen years. Can't get much more land-locked than smack in the middle of the USA and after three years of living here, we missed the ocean something fierce.


I had no worries that the beach town had gone through radical changes since I'd left it. I expected changes but nothing drastic. There were new houses and restaurants, a few more shops and more traffic that went along with the growth, but life in and around the Atlantic hadn't changed. That phrase, you can never go back home doesn't hold true for the ocean. One not crippled by human-made disasters is a safe place for the nostalgic person to return to. Tides, surf sounds, beaches, shells, sand crabs, sea birds. Every size, shape and age of people in and around the water. Five, ten, twenty years could pass before I get to the ocean again and when I do, I can feel confident that what I love about it will still be as I had left it.


I expect I will find the same beachgoing activities in a decade as I found last week. Walking, jogging, kite flying, castle building, eating, drinking, reading. I was so happy to see that reading is still favored by so many beach lovers. Educational associations, writer's loops and book purchasing statistics have raised concerns about the decline of reading in this country. We're told paper book purchases are down, ebook purchases are up. I expected to see either no readers or those who were reading to have the popular Kindle or other handheld reading device inches away from their faces. Like the Kindle television commercial with the couple sitting in cozy canvas chairs on the beach, their backs to the camera, each reading from a Kindle. In the week I spent oceanside I saw not a single one. Paperback and hardback books yes, but no handhelds. Not that it matters to me what method someone uses to read a book, as long as books are still being read. But I was surprised and pleased--no offense to those of you who use electronic methods to read--to see so many actual books being enjoyed.


I'm strictly old school. I have to hold a book, turn the pages with my fingers, see actual print on paper, use a bookmark from my vast collection to mark my stopping place. Apparently plenty of people agree with me. But even more important is they agree that a good book is a fantastic beach companion. And as writers, that is absolutely something for us to celebrate.


Polly