How I Learned to Listen to My Character's Voices

Before I wrote a single word, I spent 18 months reading and researching the background and history behind Grown Men Cry Out at Night. You see, I have always been a reader. From the time I was four years old and my sister took me to a library for the first time, I have loved to read. I currently have more than a dozen books on my Kindle that I am reading. And reading the works of the writers whom I admire, and whose work I love, helped me shape my book.

I read the entire George Smiley series by John Le Carre. I also read selected works of Graham Greene, especially his stories that centered around espionage and war. I thought of them often when I actually started writing, hoping to emulate their style and create characters that jumped off the page.

But if I was reading, that meant I wasn't writing. As I started to write Grown Men Cry Out at Night, the challenge became to write more than I read. As a former intelligence analyst, it is very easy for me to fall back into more research. If I could just find this one nugget of information, everything would fall into place. The plot would naturally flow, and the characters necessary to execute the plot would magically appear. Research is a natural act for me. Writing, especially a novel, is not.

But then, two very interesting things happened.

First, I saw an interview on television of the writer Amor Towles. Towles is a hugely successful writer and I happened to be reading his book, A Gentleman in Moscow when the interview aired. Something Towles said completely flabbergasted me.

Towles told the interviewer that he does most of his research AFTER he completes his first draft. He said that helps him find the story and let the characters speak without constraints.

Upon hearing that, I decided I would give it a try. I was beginning to feel desperate because writing was such a struggle. So with Towles words in my mind, I made the decision to no longer stop in the middle of my draft to go back and research some obscure historical fact. I would just let the words flow from my imagination.

I was liberated. I just started writing, knowing I could “correct” any historical inaccuracy if it was necessary. And as I did that, the words began to flow. And that is when the second thing happened.

My characters started speaking to me. I could hear dialogue in my head. Scenes would play out in my mind’s eye. I became a scribe, transcribing the scenes and dialogue as it was presented to me by my characters. When I started writing Grown Men Cry Out at Night, I struggled to meet my daily goal of writing 500 words. Once I adopted Towles approach, I was easily writing 1000, 2000, 3000 words a day, and sometimes more.

So, I will always be a reader and a researcher at heart. But if I want to be a writer, I have to sit down, listen to my characters, and write down what they say. They will tell me the story, they will construct the plot.