A Writer's Tale

For one thing, every author wouldn’t be able to detect the integral elements of a given story. Plus, there would be legitimate differences of opinion about what is or isn’t an integral element. But even if every author should agree about such matters, they would certainly not handle them in the same manner. Each writer would emphasize different aspects, depending on the needs of his characters and his own preferences and compulsions.

So, given any basic plot setup and the story’s natural logic, ten different writers would develop the story in ten different ways. But there would almost certainly be basic, inevitable similarities among most of them.

And some of the stories could be so similar that people might be led to suspect plagiarism though no plagiarism occurred.

In my opinion, a major characteristic of a good writer is his ability to unearth the natural logic of a story, use it and develop it.

As an author, how do you discover a story’s internal logic?

If you have common sense and a store of good, general knowledge, it should be easy.

Consider the situation of your story. Then say to yourself, “If that happened, then what would probably happen next in the real world?” Let me stress, the real world, not the make-believe crap that usually tries to pass itself off as reality in the movies, on TV and in a lot of fiction. Say to yourself, “If that happened, then what would I do about it?”

Don’t ask what Clint Eastwood or Bruce Willis or Drew Barrymore would do, ask what you would do. You, or real people you know.

Keep asking yourself those questions. Each time you find a good answer, use it. And you’ll find that, for the most part, your story will develop easily and naturally. You’ll feel as if you’re following your story, not making it up. You actually are making it up, but it won’t feel that way. You’ll sense that the story has a life of its own. If that happens, you can be pretty sure that you’re writing a good story.

Having expounded on this topic, I feel compelled to qualify things. Obviously, some of your characters will not behave as you ‘would behave in certain circumstances. And obviously, you don’t always want to go with the first event or course of action that pops into your head. Obviously a lot of other things. I’m not trying to cover every aspect of writing; I just want to pass along certain observations and suggestions about a few matters that I’ve discovered during my years as a writer.

The deal is, you’ll be better off as a writer if you’re aware that stories do have certain underlying, secret structures.

You need to find the natural elements of the story you’re trying to write. Show them to your reader, manipulate them, play with them, possibly mutilate them but ignore them only at your peril.

In writing Island, I let the story develop in its own way and I mostly just followed along to see what would happen next. But I helped it along, too. I was MOG. My game was to keep things moving along at a quick pace and to see how far I could go.

I pretty much pushed the situation and the format to its limits.

And on the final page of my manuscript, 594, I tossed a hand grenade (figuratively) into the works.

As for the ending, I didn’t know I’d do it till I did it.

I knew I might, but it was almost as if I left the final decision up to Rupert.

To my way of thinking, that’s the way it should be. Let the story lead the way. Be the chronicler of what seems almost inevitable. And don’t shove the story out of its natural path, even if the path appears to be leading toward a cliff.

That way, you surprise yourself and your readers.

I finished writing Island on January 23, 1995. Headline published it later that year, and Book Club Associates ordered 23,000 copies. In 1997, Island sold to Russia.

The Headline paperback edition is presently in its 7th printing.

BODY RIDES

As of January 25, 1995, I was done with Island and ready to embark on a new novel. I sat down in front of my computer. At that point, I didn’t have a clue about the subject of my next novel. So I went through my usual routine. In order to give you a look at how I get started on a new novel, I’ll reprint some of my early notes.

The notes will give you a close-up look at the way my mind operates when I am trying to get started on a new novel. Though I’ve already shown you my initial notes for The Cellar, I think that the notes I made in the early days of Body Rides are a lot more revealing about my mental processes.

And, after all, delving into mental processes is what Body Rides is all about.

Ideas for new novel Jan. 25, 1995 Just finished Island Next book.

1. Something that does not focus on a sex-maniac guy stalking, raping and murdering people.