The Organic Fiction Method

The Organic Fiction Method of writing is a formula that springs from the natural flow as you add to the story; it means not relying on a steadfast outline, but rather, being open to the events and developments that might come from minor and major details that evolve as your story reveals itself.

I am an organic writer. I might begin a story or novel idea with just one scene, one snippet of dialogue, a single image, one idea or concept. These 'seedlings', as I call them, can appear from many different sources, which I will not expound upon in this article, except to say that they can come from conversations you have had or overheard, dreams you've had or others have told you about, news items, personal experiences, and so on.

The plot can be an organic process in that you may not be sure where it's going to end up, or the pit-stops it might make beforehand, but some detail in setting, motivation, or theme will lead to another facet that fills it out. This is where research can be beneficial. If you learn all you can about the subjects you're illustrating, those details alone can often provide you with seedlings that gel (sometimes almost magically) with the other elements of your plot.

For instance, in Also Known As DNA, a sequel to Armchair Detective (which is in progress), I moved my characters to another state. In the first book, the main character drove a '62 Falcon, and it was important in the story; the main character also referred to the other main character's house as "the Manor." So in researching the area for the new book, I discovered a setting i needed, and it was called Falcon Mountain. And then I discovered that the perfect house for them just happened to be located on Manor Lane. All quite accidental discoveries, but significant in more ways than one. And the synchronicities like that which often appear can give your writing process a little boost.

Unless you're basing a character on someone real, whom you already know well and want to use, characters can be organic, too. I never write out personal histories for my characters, as I find that stifling, and frankly, it's time wasted that could be better used in writing the actual story. If you spend all that time getting every detail of your character in place, the process of writing the book will, in my experience, force you to omit those details or change them entirely, so I prefer to just have that general idea and then see what is required. This all depends on your own approach to the writing. Some write from plot, some from character (Hence, the phrases "plot-driven" and "character-driven"). But I allow both plot and character to remain organic and this keeps the process exciting. It's almost as though I am "reading" the book with as much anticipation as a regular reader would, because honestly, I'm not quite sure how it will turn out. I enjoy letting characters tell me the rest through the machinations of the story. Sometimes these things fall together through dialogue, and sometimes in some other mysterious way that has to do with setting, motivation, seasons, unexpected events, or any number of other possibilities.

In one of my novels, a character once appeared whom I had not even created. Two of my established characters were on their front porch in their isolated country home, and "Tilly" suddenly just rode up on horseback and began to reveal herself to be strange and interesting, and I have no idea, to this day, where she came from.

This is part of the exhilaration of being an Organic Fiction Writer. Writing in this way helps insure that you don't tire of the process. The journey is one that you take just like a reader, but you just get to take it before they do.

The Organic Fiction Method

Reading Shakespeare

NOTE: this idea came to me after a thought of Shakespeare came into my head...and i recalled how it was so difficult at first, but then noticed how you develop an ear for it..and how i wish i had read ALL of Shakespeare's works. Most classics i could give a damn for, but Shakespeare was in a class all his own. Then i had the thought that the description of how it is to read Shakespeare is often how it is to understand something our brains don't at first comprehend...and a metaphor was born...like coming onto some scene or predicament that makes us stop, in dumbfounded silence, and we struggle to make sense of it. Then i thought how that would make a good scene, esp using the Shakespeare reference. And this is what came out in the freewriting. (Surprisingly, in 2nd Person, which I never write in, so that made me think maybe i need to write something that way)...



It was like reading Shakespeare: at first, you think it's a foreign language, for which you have no understanding, and then you recognize that it's English, just well-wrought. And then you develop an ear for its cadence, a clarity for its depth and humor, and finally, you wish you had read all his works, years ago, for they may have helped you avoid the current predicament in which you find yourself.

Your phone rings and the cat shoots straight into the air, landing wide-eyed on the mottled carpet. It wasn't that your cat was jittery, but she was sleeping on top of your cell phone. Usually, it was set on vibrate. And she knew that, and liked it when it rang. It sends her into paroxysms of writhing. But you had changed it to ring because you were in the other room, frying baloney for a sandwich. You wanted to be able to hear it, but couldn't carry it around. You had on your underwear and there were no pockets. And you wanted to remain in your underwear for a just a little longer.

But now.
Now there was this.
This confusing, shocking, Shakespearian tragedy on the floor in front of you.
And the niggling question at the back of your mind is, Since there is only one window, not much bigger than a porthole, and only one door, off the kitchen, where you were, which leads down the stairs from this attic abode of yours, how did this little surprise get past you and onto your bedroom floor?

Reading Shakespeare

Characters: Names & Numbers

I have noticed this issue with seasoned and novice writers alike: a tendency to not only confuse the reader with changing character names and designations, but to use too many characters when it's not necessary.

When you introduce characters, it's okay to use their full names, but at some point you should try to settle on one name by which to refer to them. Otherwise your reader will be confused and might have to page back to the previous pages to hunt for who it is. This is not something you want your readers to have to do. I know that as a reader myself, I certainly don't want to do it.

When you mention a character for a second time, and it's been a while since the first time or the last time, give the reader some cue, like, "John, ever the nutty professor, joined them." --assuming of course that John is a professor, and has been known to be nutty.

This caveat about character names and clues should be used with even more attention when you have more characters, as it becomes harder and harder for your reader to keep them clear in her mind. Some books do seem to require quite a few characters to tell the story, however. My first few novels had only two to four characters and the rest were peripheral or nameless (i.e., the "waitress"). --a definite indication of my greenness as a writer back then. Probably wise, though, to start those projects with only a few main characters, until I learned how to handle them better, and with more discernment. But I have come to recognize that more complicated plots require more characters, (not always, but usually), and likewise, more characters can help you create that sort of plot. Now, this is from my viewpoint of being an organic type of writer. I don't plot out all my books down to the last detail. I feel that sucks most of the joy right out of it. So, keeping this in mind, that organic process tends to take root when you have different characters playing off each other. Sometimes the solution for being stuck in where your story is going, can be solved by some interesting juxtaposition in two or more characters, or by just allowing them to converse, until something pops up that offers you a solution.

In my novel, Achilles Forjan, I think there were about 33 characters, even though some were tertiary, and some were talked about, but no longer present in the story--they were victims of a killer. But all those characters were necessary to the plot, and I was careful to remind my reader in subtle ways, who they were when they were out of the picture for a while.

Another method I used to great success in Baggage, was to try to go to a different character in each chapter until I established them all, and then allow them to merge in chapters as their relationships intertwined. I learned this little trick from one of my favorite authors, Dean Koontz. (see blog entry on the Koontz Dangle).

No matter how you handle the characters in your books, just be certain that they are there for a tangible reason, and it's clear which one is in the scene, and in relation to what other character or situation. No need to confuse things for the reader.

Characters: Names & Numbers