Inspiration

I've been asked numerous times to explain what inspiration is and how a writer goes from inspiration to a full idea.

Recently, I found the perfect visual explanation.

In this film clip from Royal Wedding, Fred Astaire is waiting for his dance partner who hasn't shown up. He starts with inspiration--replacing the dance partner with the coat rack, then he begins to play with and expand that inspiration through experimentation of what does and doesn't work.

When he reaches the point that he's done all he can do with the coat rack, he moves on to the different pieces of gym equipment to see what they can improve on the idea.

None really add to the essence of inanimate object as dance partner so he returns to the coat rack and completes the conceit with the end of the dance.

In the same way, a writer starts with inspiration, plays with the possibilities of that inspiration, expands those possibilities to see what does and doesn't work, then adds that idea into the structure of the scene or story.

Of course, none of the staring into space we do while playing with an idea is nearly so cool looking as Astaire with his grace, but we have just as much fun with our mental leaps and flourishes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faN0kPOQykM

 

Voice

I've read somewhere that an author doesn't have a voice or true style until they have written over a million words. This is true to a certain extent. By the time we've written that long, we've stopped trying to copy our favorite authors or second guess ourselves, etc., if for no other reason than we're tired of doing that. 

Some writers don't read the kind of fiction they write while they are working on a book for fear that they will start copying a writer's voice instead of using their own. 

Voice is more than just the use or misuse of metaphors, etc. I know I choose the language I use because of the character's viewpoint I'm in. (I write strict third-person viewpoint.) 

One character might see a plane wreck and describe it in my narrative as 

The plane's pieces were scattered over the valley like clothes dropped by a drunk on the way to bed. 

Another character who is more analytical would think 

The gouge of earth left by the plane's moving fuselage led him to a boulder. The left wing tip lay against it. The furrow veered violently left there, and bits of wing then fuselage littered the area around it. When there was nothing left of the plane to break apart, the gouge ended.

The author must also choose voice by the genre expectations of the readers. Choosing the wrong voice can be quite jarring.

Can you imagine a romance novel written like a "noir" detective novel. 

I can say this for Lord Garven, he was built, built like Cleopatra's Needle, but I walked away alone in the dark, dank London fog. I had my partner to avenge, and he had a date with Lord Southby.

One big mistake I've seen used by beginning writers is emulating the wrong writers, especially writers from the past. 

A friend had this thing for Sinclair Lewis who wrote in the early 20th century, but I had to explain to him that Lewis' style was hopelessly outdated with its languid pace, florid style, and sentence structure, and with the current tastes of editors and readers, he would find no readers. 

It's equally disastrous to emulate the current literary style of the moment like writing in first person immediate. 

I look at Lord Garven. He is built. Like Cleopatra's Needle. But I shake my head no and walk through the door. I must find my partner's killer. 

By the time you're publishable, the moment is long gone. 

What I'm saying is find the right voice for each work, and your own voice will emerge.

It's the Romance, Stupid

In the 1992 campaign against George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and his advisers realized that the economy was Bush’s weak spot so they decided to focus on that subject.  Around Clinton’s headquarters, the sign, “It’s the economy, Stupid,” was posted to remind everyone to stay focused on that issue.

In the same way, a writer needs to hone in on the targeted audience of her book.  

When you are writing and you get a clever idea about the romance heroine’s business problems, you need to decide if that has anything to do with her relationship with the hero.  If it doesn’t, out it should go.  

Particularly at the beginning of the novel, that target audience should be kept in mind.  The reader wants girl to meet boy as soon as possible so the heroine’s backstory and everything else must be second in importance in those first pages.  

In the same way, the mystery reader wants the murder to happen, the science fiction reader wants some brand new scientific idea or world to startle him, and the horror reader wants his pants scared off of him.

When you are rewriting, always remind yourself that “It’s the romance/mystery/sf/horror, Stupid” and focus your book toward that kind of reader.