The Beating Heart of the Novel, Part 1 by Anna Michaels

In the workshops and seminars, university classrooms and writing conferences,  book signing parties and casual conversations, people ask me how to begin a novel.  Each writer's process is unique. There will be similarities, of course, but

one of the most important aspects of the writing process is that it works for the particular writer.

In a lecture I heard several years ago (and, of course, I paraphrase), John Grisham stated that his process involves layering plot on plot in much the same way you'd build a model house from Lincoln logs, from the foundation up.

On that same stage, Stephen King described his writing process as catching hold of a red string protruding from a baseboard, starting to pull and hoping the string didn't break until he got to the end.  (Again, I am not quoting directly.) In that case, plot and characters are so intertwined they come to the writer  simultaneously, fully formed and eager to be put on the printed page.

My writing process is more akin to King's than Grisham's. Though sometimes a novel will drop unexpectedly into my mind – complete right down to the names of the each character, the plot lines, and the resolution – I usually start with the beating heart of a story.  Characters.

I want readers to care about my characters, to turn the pages and find out what happens next, to be so invested in the lives of my fictional people that they laugh and cry with them, root for them, and above all, love them.  And so, in the beginning stages of a novel, I treat my characters as people I've just met, folks I'm eager to know. I start with the name, and then I create the details you'd usually discover if you stopped to chat with someone you'd just met. Where are you from? What's your profession? Are you married with husband and children?

Next, I gain a friendly footing with my characters. As I get to know them better, I discover whether they share my love of music and art and books, whether they love cherry ice cream or chocolate, whether they love the capricious outdoors or prefer to stay inside where rainstorms will never catch them unaware.  I find out what scares them, inspires them, motivates them.

Finally, I unearth my characters' dreams. What do they want most in the world? And how can I, the writer, make their story interesting by withholding their dreams until they've earned the right to triumph?  Heartless, I know. Still fiction must be larger than life. It has to grab you by the heart and not let go.

Anna is currently withholding the dreams of another set of characters she loves. Her debut novel will be in bookstores on May 17th.  Tour listed on the website.