Mastering the Process: From Idea to Novel

by Elizabeth George

As the author of twenty-four novels, Elizabeth George is one of the most successful--and prolific--novelists today. In Mastering the Process, George offers readers a master class in the art and science of crafting a novel. This is a subject she knows well, having taught creative writing both nationally and internationally for over thirty years."I have never before read a book about writing that is so thorough, thoughtful, and most of all, helpful." --Lisa See, New York Times bestselling author of The Island of Sea WomenFor many writers, the biggest challenge is figuring out how to take that earliest glimmer of inspiration and shape it into a full-length novel. How do you even begin to transform a single idea into a complete book? In these pages, award-winning, number one New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth George takes us behind the scenes through each step of her writing process, revealing exactly what it takes to craft a novel.Drawing from her personal photos, early notes, character analyses, and rough drafts, George shows us every stage of how she wrote her novel Careless in Red, from researching location to imagining plot to creating characters to the actual writing and revision processes themselves. George offers us an intimate look at the procedures she follows, while also providing invaluable advice for writers about what has worked for her--and what hasn't. Mastering the Process gives writers practical, prescriptive, and achievable tools for creating a novel, editing a novel, and problem solving when in the midst of a novel, from a master storyteller writing at the top of her game.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Crafts, Audiobook, Reference, Adult, Crime

331 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 7, 2020

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Susan Elizabeth George is an American author of mystery novels set in Great Britain. Eleven of her novels, featuring her character Inspector Lynley, have been adapted for television by the BBC as The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.

She was born in Warren, Ohio, but moved to the San Francisco Bay Area when she was eighteen months old. She was a student of English, receiving a teaching certificate. While teaching English in the public school system, she completed an advanced degree in psychology.

Her first published novel was A Great Deliverance in 1988, featuring Thomas Lynley, Lord Asherton, a Scotland Yard inspector of noble birth; Barbara Havers, Lynley's assistant, from a very working-class background; Lady Helen Clyde, Lynley's girlfriend and later wife, of noble birth as well; and Lynley's friends Simon and Deborah St. James.

This Elizabeth George is distinct from the other author named Elizabeth George (Christian author).

Series:
* Inspector Lynley

Reviews

[Elizabeth George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ignore the stars. I put them in because I wanted to let everyone know about my book "Mastering the Process", which will be available on April 7. This is a book about writing, specifically about the process of putting together a novel. It's the process I have developed over the years since my first novel in 1988. Taking just one of my novels--"Careless in Red" published by HarperCollins--I deconstruct it in such a way as to show you how I put it all together, from the moment I began my research for the book (which is set in Cornwall on the west coast) to the moment it was set to be published. Throughout, I give you direct examples of my process, including photographs I took on location and sections from the novel itself that show you how those novels were used when I got to the writing. You will also find character analyses, along with scenes of those characters in action in the book. You'll see examples of the use of the various Cornish settings I found, as well as the use of interviews I conducted. You'll see how research gets buried into an ongoing narrative instead of having neon lights illuminating it for the reader. I explain what I mean when I say that I outline, and I show you not only what the outline looks like but also how things change along the way. If you're a reader who enjoys my novels, you'll probably find this an interesting look at how I work. If you're a neophyte writer who's feeling a bit lost, you'll have some options to explore. If you're a writing instructor, you'll find information and exercises to share with your students. Enjoy.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't make it very far through this one. The beginning tips were so filled with passages from her own book, I felt like she was giving me a manual for writing her book, not mine. Maybe it gets better if you can soldier through that portion.

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unusual and wonderful read that should appeal to anyone who loves books. I admit to being a huge George fan. I also have no intention of ever writing a novel so I read this more for insight into George than I did to learn how to do so. George is a master of the complex mystery and of characters who will resonate with you. She's also managed to worldbuild over the years so that readers, like me, look forward to what comes next (especially since there's always a cliff hanger of sorts). She's a terrific storyteller and that's what comes through in this as well. Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC. A real treat while you wait for the next Inspector Lynley.

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mean, I suppose it's always interesting to hear about how other writers do the thing, but I found this book to be disappointingly lacking in specific, applicable advice. There were a few nuggets here and there, sure, but I do think the text got too caught up in using examples from the author's novel. There were, at times, 10-page excerpts just inserted into the book, when I feel like a more judiciously shortened example might have better served the reader. If I had to guess, I'd say probably at least 100 pages of this 300-page book are just excerpts from the novel George refers back to.

2/5

[Annelise Wilp · Rating 2 out of 5]

WAY too many excerpts from the author’s own work. I’m talking pages and pages. There was more self-promotion than actual advice.

[David Crow · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many excellent books on the writing process. But Elizabeth George stands out for me because she uses one of her own works to show what it really takes to write a page-turning work of fiction. The running plot, the plot kernel, the use of all five senses, how to develop characters, scenes and plots is well explained. The all-important Tasing Head Avoidance Device helps create a work that moves forward instead of being repetitive or flat. There is so much to this book that is helpful. I think any writer will glean lots of tips from Elizabeth George. I will look for her other works.

[Kathleen Flynn]

This is neither the least helpful or the most helpful book of writing advice that I have ever come across. It's at many points sensible and practical, particularly about scene construction and the importance of dramatic questions.

Definitely it helped to have just read Careless in Red, because reading long segments of that book (incorporated into this one) would have been senseless and tedious otherwise. But perhaps part of the problem I had with the writing advice presented here was my own lukewarm feeling about Careless in Red.

[Tikvah Lanz-Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn’t get through the book. She had a few good tips, but for the most part it just felt like reading her other book chopped up. There were excerpts inserted that would be 5+ pages. Felt more like self promotion than advice. Unhelpful, to say the least.

[Susan Liston · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you were trying or planning to write fiction I can see where this book could certainly be helpful. Having read quite a few of her novels it was interesting to see her creative processes explained.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an insightful look into the process of writing a novel. The examples that show the process from planning to execution are very wonderful, and the steps provided would be helpful for anyone interested in writing. Whether it's someone who is thinking about starting a novel and not knowing where to start, a writer who is knee deep in it already and feeling stuck, or even just someone wanting to build on their current process, there is something in the book for everyone. Thank you to Viking Books for the advanced copy!

[Mars · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a mind-numbing excuse for the author to shove in ENDLESS (and boy, do I mean it) excerpts from her work in a bid to show them off rather than actually give much meaningful advice. Seriously, this book is at least 75-80% excerpts from her other books to maybe 20% actual writing on...well, writing.

The advice given is the same thing in every other book on writing, just offered with a suffocating air of self-congratulations for inserting 5+ pages of her novels on us to prove a simple point about dialogue, character voice, setting up a scene description, et. al.

This offers nothing new and, in fact, makes me want to read the author's other work even less now that it's been aggressively shoved at me every few pages as if I am the child in Matilda being force-fed chocolate cake.

[Renee Bradshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Packed full of useful information, I truly wish this book had been around years ago when I started writing seriously. As I work to get back into writing years after a fork in the road, I found much of this to be a helpful refresher. There are two chapters I particularly liked- The Thad and Step Outline. These were described for the first time I’ve noticed in a writing book, and I will be turning back to these chapters at a later date to go over all those highlights again.

[anemia · Rating 1 out of 5]

With all the snippets weaved into the book, this reads more like an advertisement for her novel and not a very good one at that. What I managed to learn from this book is that I would never want to read her novel in full and more importantly that I'd hate to be a female character written by Elisabeth George.

[AcademicEditor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a helpful guide to expanding your thinking and viewing your project from different angles. The author provides many substantial examples to illustrate her concepts. Would make a nice gift for an aspiring writer!

[Diane Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Mastering the Process: From Idea to Novel, the author of the Inspector Lynsey series reveals the process she uses to write her crime novels. How will her process help budding writers?

“By developing and utilizing a process, we eradicate our fears of the blank page and eliminate the chaos of the thoughts that are produced by our mental committee.”

The author notes that while this process may not be optimal for everyone, it works for her. In fact, she has reduced her editorial notes from nine pages to zero on at least one past novel.

So what are some of the author’s suggestions? Start with researching the setting extensively. Create the characters next by becoming their “psychologist, historian, medical doctor, guardian angel, omnipresent observer, parent, sibling, confidant, best friend, worst enemy, etc.” Essentially, be their god “creating them from nothing.” Unstated is the selection, or rejection, of a particular genre before beginning your research.

The book digs deeply into the details of the author’s process for writing Careless in Red. She includes how particular photographs led to specific scenes, which are included in the text. In a later chapter, she explains the purpose of a dialogue scene from her book. Another chapter explains her THAD, or Talking Heads Avoidance Device. Another addresses point-of-view. And so on through the entire writing process of plotting, scene writing, and revising. In addition, each chapter contains two optional exercises for the reader to use to hone each new skill.

I appreciate the usefulness of having a written recipe to move from idea to finished book. This book would be especially helpful for beginning writers. Even pantsers can learn a thing or two about using research to eliminate a long editorial process after their book is finished.

However, as solely a reader myself, Mastering the Process: From Idea to Novel is a peek behind the curtain at how a familiar, and best-selling, author’s decisions impact what I read on the printed page. I read Careless in Red when it came out twelve years ago. I have a new appreciation of how much work it took to write it. Or, really, how much work is unseen when reading any book. 4 stars!

Thanks to Viking Books and Edelweiss+ for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

In her second book on writing, following Write Away! (2004), George shows she applied some of her techniques in writing one particular novel, Careless in Red. I always appreciate her deliberate, thoughtful approach to writing, although her emphasis on planning may be too much for some writers. If you don't know George's work or haven't attended a presentation by her, explaining some of her methods, you should probably start with Write Away!, which takes a broader look at craft, then do the deep dive with this book.

[Joni Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth George details her writing process brilliantly and thoroughly in this mini MFA in writing book. Pick up a copy of her novel Careless in Red to read before diving into this book. Bit by bit , George walks through the novel as she explains the how and why of her writing process. A master class in fiction for serious writers.

[Anamaria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn't read any Elizabeth George before reading this, but I still found it a fascinating look at one writer's process and came away with lots of ideas of how to approach my own work. Reading Well-Schooled in Murder now.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Makes me realize I am not and never will be a novelist, but informative as to what the process is like. It’s still all about producing something that a publisher thinks the buying public will want to read. One surprise is that George finds an interesting place first, and the rest of the novel sort of “evolves” out of her locale research...

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a book to rush through but an insightful guide to writing that’s chock-full of examples from of one of Ms Grimes’ wonderful Linley mysteries. Includes optional exercises too.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Elizabeth George's brain just may work the same way mine does, which made this a very helpful book!

[Paul Raymer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find Elizabeth George's advice on writing invaluable. Starting from the characters, arranging the scenes and the POVs, and using what she calls THADs (Talking Heads Avoidance Device) is very helpful. In this book she illustrates her points with sections from her mystery Careless in Red.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Using passages from her mystery novel Careless in Red (spoilers for that novel if you haven't read it) George sets forth her writing process. How she approaches research, character development, plot ideas, outlining, THAD (Talking Head Avoidance Device), writing, and editing. I found her description of her process and the examples helpful in understanding how she works. I received a free ARC of this book from the publisher through the Goodreads First Reads giveaways.

[KathyNV · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book on one writer's process. Elizabeth George takes her novel “Careless in Red” and details how she put it together. She takes you step by step...from plot conception to character development, landscape, scene building, research and so much more! Included are pictures, notes and personal anecdotes that bring her technique to life. “Mastering the Process” is a great read for both writers and readers alike. I have read lots of books on writing but none with the attention to detail this book provides! I highly recommend it! Thank you to Viking Books and Goodreads!

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a few things from reading the book, even though I did not do any of the end-of-chapter assignments.

First of all, I would single out THAD "Talking Heads Avoidance Device" as a great take away. The idea is to have characters engage in activities that bring to life the personalities in the story, without the need for conversations or descriptions to do the job. I was aware of such scenes in books, but not aware of it as a technique per se. THAD adds texture to the character, their emotional state, details, and it can add tension to the conflict - if that is part of the scene - without boring the reader. As George wrote:
"A THAD’s power lies in all the things it says without saying anything at all."
and:
"No doubt you’ve heard the prescription to “show, not tell” in your writing. Showing is exactly what a THAD can do. Imagine everything you can reveal about a character in the way he guts a fish, in
the way she eats a soft-boiled egg, in the way he cleans a bicycle chain or polishes a shoe."

George's explanations of "core need,” "psychopathology" and "pathological maneuver" were very helpful too.
Core Need:
"I think of this as an essential need, seeking to be met, that’s at the root of everything a character does."
Psychopathology:
A character’s psychopathology is revealed in action, in i.e. THAD. The behavior, through activity laid out for the reader, tells the reader what a character is dealing with.
Pathological Maneuver:
"I define the pathological maneuver as an aberrant behavior, a conflicted or confused mental state, a self-created bodily oddity, an unusual..."
She explained that the pathological maneuver "is triggered in moments when anxiety, stress, fear, or the troubled mind can’t be soothed or relieved or when situations occur in which the core need of that character cannot be met and the anxiety this creates produces a behavior that temporarily reduces that anxiety."
Examples are: " self-mutilation, aggression against others, bullying, eating disorders, drug addictions, alcoholism, uncontrollable rages, physical ailments with no known cause (hysterical blindness, hysterical paralysis, obsessive thoughts, compulsive behaviors (like hand washing), obsessions, nymphomania, satyriasis, chronic lying, all manias, all phobias, reaction formation, etc."

George works to create "attitude" in her characters to avoid "Wonder Bread people: bland and lacking in subtlety and texture."

She offered a lot of general advice and shared those aspects of writing that give her the greatest joy. George made clear that the joy of the creative writing is only possible when the more routine, plodding foundation work is tackled first. And there is SO MUCH preliminary work! As she put it, the most important part of novel writing: "A great deal of it is about having or developing the ability to delay gratification."

Once she has her characters and her setting understood, she tackles the plot.
She does not plot out the entire novel because she wants "to “discover” the plot as she goes along. "I want to allow for moments of inspiration, for new ideas, for ways in which I might suddenly see how the subplots can twist and turn." BUT she creates a “plot kernel,” which is a general statement or a set of statements that "will illuminate the through line (which is to say, the path that takes us to the conclusion) of the novel." Research needs to be buried, and the writer buries it by making it part of what’s happening at a precise moment in the narrative. Once she has "the killer, the victim, the motive, and the means" the foundation is laid.

"Perhaps the most crucial part of plotting involves making sure that the scenes in the novel keep opening up the plot and the subplots. This is the only way to avoid dead ends.”

George really hates flashbacks, which she calls the bane of neophyte writers:
"The Dread Flashback rips the reader out of the overall....story, which is the last thing you want to happen. Because a flashback ... gives the reader the sense of a novel that’s clunking and groaning along instead of running smoothly. So I advise you to resist the siren call of the Dread Flashback."

I could relate to her descriptions of the joy of discovery during the creative process. The serendipity, the flashes of inspiration. After all, a novel is a created thing. It is a journey into the unknown for the writer. It cannot be all planned out ahead of time, because that is not what creative writing is. But the planning is important as a foundation. In her own words:

"Having done that, I’m free to “paint” with words."

"For me, this is part of what’s crucial to my process: the serendipity of seeing something and being able to use it later in a flash of inspiration."

"For me, fun is ephemeral. Satisfaction generally is not."

"For me, that’s the fun part of writing. That’s the joyful and most fulfilling part. To reach fun, joy, and fulfillment, then, I’m willing to follow a process that I know from experience is going to get me there."

"...the key to success in just about anything we attempt and hope to become good at... doing the tough stuff first and the fun stuff second...it’s all about doing what I have to do first and what I want to do second."

"Oddly enough, thinking I’m in control liberates the creative side of me so that it can start working during the steps of my process that call for freewriting."

"The luckiest among them find that what they have to do, what they need to do, and what they want to do combine to lead to the same thing: the joy of living a creative life."

"I can enjoy the process of creating the narrative. Like a visual artist, what I’ve done for myself is sketch on canvas what I intend to paint, establishing the composition of the finished piece in advance."

There were many more "lessons" in the book, such as about dialog, and dramatic questions, ways to keep the reader engaged and turning pages, and "bang within a bang" conclusions.

It was interesting to learn, that once she has finished her first draft - the part of writing she loves the most - she sends the manuscript copy to a longtime cold reader, a former teaching colleague who is not a writer "but rather a passionate book lover who reads dozens of novels every year. What makes her an exceptional cold reader is that she has absolutely no ax to grind: personal, professional, literary, or otherwise."

She does this because she wants "to spend as little additional time on it as possible. I want my editor’s letter to me to be very brief, suggesting minor adjustments only. I want to be finished with the book because, frankly, after all the work I’ve put into it, the novel holds virtually no charm for me. I also go through all of this because I’m a perfectionist. I take enormous pride in my work, and when I show it to someone—particularly to my editor—I want it to represent the best I can do. Handing off a rough draft and telling my editor, “You figure out what to do with it,” isn’t who I am."

At the end of the book are reading recommendations. I was happy to see I have read many of them.

Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway, “you might want to give it a look to see how a master does it.“

The Collector by John Fowles
A Perfect Spy by John le Carré
The Dawn Patrol by Don Winslow
Sula by Toni Morrison
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Telling the Bees by Peggy Hesketh
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
ALL-AROUND GREAT
In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien Possession by A. S. Byatt
The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
Atonement, On Chesil Beach, and Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
Waterland by Graham Swift
Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Constant Gardener by John le Carré
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The World According to Garp and A Widow for One Year by John Irving
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

ADORED CLASSICS
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Desperate Remedies, Far from the Madding Crowd, and The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Light in August and Absalom, Absalom! by William F....

[Stef · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn't read a single Elizabeth George book before this, just saw it on my last trip to the public library and figured it wouldn't hurt to skim it. Turns out it was a really good decision! Though I'm not writing crime fiction, this book was still very helpful and I learned a lot, almost like taking an intense writing course. I will have to buy a copy for myself. I was able to identify my strengths and weaknesses as a writer, to see where I was doing what I'm supposed to be doing, where I could use much improvement, and where I really need to grit my teeth and put in the hard work.

It did not make me want to read an Elizabeth George book. Which is funny because I had read a ton of Stephen King books in my youth but after reading the first few pages of his book On Writing, I was reminded why I stopped reading him.

One complaint about this book, in the last chapter she gives an example of a device, but the example didn't match the description she gave. I either missed it or there was an editing error.

[Cari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be reviewing this one for Booklist!

[Beatrice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Libro per aspiranti scrittori, ricco di ottimi consigli su come organizzare la stesura di un romanzo. Lo consiglio vivamente agli appassionati di scrittura creativa.

[David DeLuca · Rating 1 out of 5]

Insufferable claptrap. That's what Ms. George pumps out at the rate of roughly one novel per year. And now, in "Mastering The Process", she explains exactly why and how she can churn out so many unreadable novels so quickly.

It's the research, stupid! Her trips to the English countryside, her innumerable photographs (lovingly reprinted in dull, insipid black and white, making the reader squint to see the detail) and her amateurish stabs at psychology - months and months of compiling these details and then regurgitating them onto the page, to the delight of scores of readers who don't know what a good read actually is.

Ah, if only I had the means to travel to another country several to gather research like this. Pity poor Ms. George, who is obviously anything BUT poor: you see, she has no imagination when it comes to creating locations, so she needs to take dozens of snapshots and then wait for the images to suggest a character, an emotion, a plot point. "Ooh, lovely cottage - that's where a suspect shall dwell. Aah, a craggy cliffside - that's where the victim met their doom (did he/she fall? Was he/she pushed? Did an alien spacecraft choose this spot because of its privacy and, upon disembarking, did the occupants stumble upon the he/she human out for an early morning stroll in the frigid month of [checks notes] March?"

Ms. George is a fan of travelogues as well, we learn, and also books concerning the local fauna and flora. Hence her predilection for overblown, unnecessary landscape descriptors such as "gorse", "archangel", "foxglove", and "lamb's foot." Because nothing keeps MY interest piqued like a well-chosen floral appointment. Thank God I have an advanced degree in English Countryside Botany, else I'd be stopping every other word to have a go at a dictionary and then, finding no pictures, doing a Google search to see exactly what "gorse" looks like. Oh, I got an e-mail notification. Best check that while I have my laptop open. Damn, it's going to rain tomorrow, according to my weather app. Not a beach day, then. Has anyone Liked my last Facebook post? A quick check, then back to that unputdownable novel by Elizabeth George.

Lest you think that her book is worthless, allow me to present the benefits of skimming it: Kidding! There aren't any. According to the author, all of her ideas come from photographing potential settings and interviewing dozens of people in the hopes that a shard of an idea will emerge from an offhand comment or unusual turn of phrase.

Here's a sample of Ms. George's prose, from her novel "Careless In Red": "She pushed the door open in a state of high dudgeon and stalked through the kitchen to the sitting room. There she stopped. In the dim light of the tenebrous day outside, a form was coming out of her bedroom... She said, 'I don't know who the hell you are... If you don't leave, I shall become violent with you'... he took a step towards her, which brought him fully into the light, and she saw his face. She said, 'My God. You're injured. I'm a doctor. May I help?'"

Right - a woman who lives in a remote cottage on an English hillside comes home, finds a window broken, creeps inside, sees a stranger, and without a trace of anxiety or fear proclaims "I shall become violent with you." Because, you know, she's a doctor, and that's exactly how a female doctor reacts when she encounters a huge, bearded, smelly man coming out of her bedroom - with perfect diction and exceptional syntax.

So yes, this book is worthless for most writers. Unless you're a writer who can afford to travel on a regular basis and spend months walking about and engaging locals in banal conversation ("So you're a milliner - that's exciting! What exactly is it that you?) And if you can afford to travel that often and spend most of your waking life chatting up townsfolk, then why exactly are you writing? You certainly don't need the income that a string of best-sellers will bring, now, do you?

[Misty · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've read Elizabeth George's crime novels, then you know she is a big fan of structure, and if you've read her previous book on craft, Write Away: One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life, then you also know she favors an organized and methodical approach to her writing. In Mastering the Process, George walks the reader through her novel-writing process, start to finish, using as her example one of the Inspector Lynley murder mysteries, Careless in Red. If you're a pantser, you probably already moved along at the very mention of "process," but this pantser--whose main approach to writing is "sit down and just see what happens"--found a lot to admire in this book.

First, you don't have to be an admirer of George's work or crime novels to appreciate her approach. She starts with research--lots of research--including the going there and walking around to observe the landscape, weather, flora, and fauna type of research. As an American writer setting her novels in Britain, this is a good idea. George explains how in these early stages, she's pursuing the kernel of a story, and taking careful notes on anything that feels like it might be useful. Obviously, setting is key to her process, and when she shares segments of Careless in Red as examples of what she's talking about, you can see how this works for her: characters are introduced through their landscape, scenes open with a careful description of setting, and her stories are firmly rooted in--and the action often shaped by--the sense of place.

One thing I put immediately to use was George's practice of doing a "character analysis" of each person who will appear in the book. I do this already in a sort of loosey-goosey, freewriting sort of fashion when I'm getting to know my characters, but as George does nothing loosey-goosey, she has a list of questions and characteristics she uses to guide these analyses. It was fascinating to see how she explores her characters, and (because she's brave enough to share the raw material) how some of them, like Tammy, change before her eyes. I tried George's list on my own work in process and was delighted by how her very organized questions helped me define what I'd sensed about my characters but hadn't committed to paper. They felt even more real after this.

The most devoted structuralists will also probably love George's version of a running outline and step outline, in which she maps out not just what will happen in a scene but whose POV it will be in. Since I'm not a crime novelist but do read the occasional cozy, I would have been interested to hear more about how crime novelists handle things like laying down clues, deciding what information needs to be revealed when and where, and choosing where to add red herrings or diversions. George doesn't go that far, and she also doesn't elaborate (that I caught, anyway) on how she decides who the POV character is for a scene. As a novelist who limits herself to 2 or 3 POV characters at most, George's habit of having 7 or so feels like a massive undertaking, and I wondered how she chooses to balance them all.

If you don't want the ending to be spoiled for you, then read Careless in Red before you pick up this book. But whether you are a pantser, a plotter, something in between, or just a big fan of George's novels, the insights into her process--and her warm, wry, no-nonsense voice--will hold great appeal.