About writing Cross Roads (Part 2)

This is the other half of the previous post, About writing Cross Roads. It finishes my explination about how and why I wrote my first novel.

That was what I decided to call How It Started. It was a guide for me, of all the things, large and small, that would become anecdotes in the actual story that was coming later. Finished with that, I turned off the computer and got my kids off to school. The baby was up by then, and I got her fed and spent some time being a mom.

When nap time came, though, Jessie was there again, politely demanding my attention. She asked me to sit down at the computer for the second time that long day, and being curious as to what she would tell me, I did. That was really the true beginning of Cross Roads, as Jessie talked, I typed. I was surprised when the baby woke up, what seemed like only a few minutes later, to discover that I’d typed thirteen pages.

It continued like that, in one voice or another, for the next six weeks approximately. There was a short break in there, when I didn’t work on the story at all. I knew that I’d done something wrong with it, but everybody was quiet in my brain for the first time since they’d all showed up. It was almost weird, not hearing even one of them prompting me to write down some important thing or other that they’d said, lest it be forgotten, but also very nice. After all, I’m not really crazy, and I just couldn’t get used to hearing other voices then my own, inside my head.

I realized that, in my hurry to get down what they were trying to tell me, I’d gotten it wrong, and they were unhappy about that. So I went back through my manuscript, searching for the incorrect information. It took a couple of days, but I finally pinpointed it. When I did, I asked them to tell me how it was wrong, and Caleb spoke up. This time, I paid closer attention, and got it down right. I felt better immediately, better but also a little overwhelmed.

After fixing that error, I sat at the computer for almost thirteen hours straight, typing frantically. Thankfully my husband was off work that day, so he dealt with the kids and dinner. As I typed that time, a new voice spoke up in my head. Just where he’d been all along, I still have no idea. Though late, Toby became a major character, and spoke often. Just not usually about himself, I’m still learning new things about him, even now.

I wrote an amazing forty-seven pages that day. Amazing for me, because I couldn’t type more then hunt and peck. I still don’t do it the right way, but I’ve gotten incredibly fast doing it my way now.

That was the first marathon writing session of many, and the longest. After that, I finished the story in about two weeks. It took me another two weeks to get it to where I thought it was as polished as I could personally make it. Then another week to get it to where it is now. After I received a request from a literary agent for the first five chapters, I decided to look at my story again, just to be sure that it was ready, that’s where the last week of editing came in.

Along the way, there were times that I was deeply affected by the things that my characters told me. I remember being alone in the car on my way over to pick up one of my nephews, and as I drove, Tyler spoke up and told me what he was planning to do, and I cried. Silly, you say, and I’m sure you’re right, but I was already so attached to my people, that it really upset me.

There were other things that they told me that made me laugh, or confused me, sometimes I got angry with them, and sometimes I was so happy that I could have cried again. My nephew Josh asked me once,

“Aunt Christie, why can’t you just write the story how you want it to go? Aren’t you the author?”

My answer to him then (and it’s still the only one I have), was that, as weird as it sounds, I’m not the author, merely the storyteller. It might sound like I’m trying to be philosophical or deep, but I honestly don’t have any other answer. The story is what it is, I just took it from the mouths of my characters and repeated it for everyone to hear.

So, if that’s insanity, then I guess I need some serious help, that’s what my son thinks. Then again, most teenaged boys think their parents are crazy. All I know is, I’m very grateful for the chance to know the people in my story. If someone will pay me for that, it’s all gravy. If they won’t, it doesn’t change anything. I’ve still heard this incredible story, and I’ll find a way to turn it into a book on my bookshelf so that I can read it as many times as I like.

About writing Cross Roads (Part 1)

A little note before you read this. As silly as it sounds, this is how the process felt to me as I wrote.

Some of my family members & friends have asked me how I got started writing this novel. They wondered if I’d had some idea, or concept of what I would write before I got started. The answer to that, is no. Actually, what happened was, my husband and I were getting ready to do some running around, (pay some bills, stop by the junk yard to look for a grill for his truck, that sort of thing) and I felt the urge to bring along paper and a pen.

I don’t usually write long hand, typing is so much faster, but I felt like I needed to write something, and I wanted to spend the day with Lee, so I improvised. I had no idea what it would be, but as I sat in the parking lot of the junk yard, waiting for my husband, I started writing. It might sound like insanity to some, but it felt comfortable to me. As I wrote, it was like somebody was in my head telling me what to write, not whispering in my ear, but actually inside my head.

That was Jessie Stanton. As I wrote, she told me all about herself. Everything; from her first, middle, and last name, and date of birth, to her favorite foods, the things she liked to do, her unrequited love for Tyler, her love of watching scary movies only with Caleb (and why). Like I said, she told me everything. It got a little hard to hear her when my husband came out of the junk yard victorious, and tried to tell me the whole fascinating story of his great find, but I tried still to hear them both.

After Jessie stopped talking, and that took some time, I thought I was done with the voices in my head. Wrong. Caleb came out then, and spoke to me in his quiet way, introducing himself in much the same way that Jessie had. Though I did have to prompt him from time to time, he wasn’t as talkative as she had been.

So it wasn’t a surprise to me then, when Tyler interrupted Caleb to introduce himself, the person he considered the true star of the story that was coming together in my head. I couldn’t shut him up at first, he was a very big talker. Fortunately, I was home typing by now, and distracted by my three oldest children fighting and arguing, to the point that I had to abandon any thought of writing.

I had decided to sit down and write a short biography on each of my characters as soon as I realized what they were, so that night, after my family was in bed, I started a new routine. I sat up typing everything that I had hand written in the car that day into the computer. I took the time to ask Caleb to refresh my memory on the things that he had told me, and to finish what he had started to tell me before Tyler interrupted. After getting it all down, I thought that I was done. Wrong again.

As I started to close out my new document, Caleb spoke up and asked if I wanted to hear about Jessie’s first day in town. I shrugged to myself and thought, what the hell, it’s already four A.M., I don’t have time to sleep before the kids get up anyway. Taking that as acquiescence, Caleb suggested that I might like to add this story to what I’d already typed that night.

I got a kick out of the story, learning about how Jessie moved down the street from Caleb when she was five, and about how they first became friends. It was sweet, hearing Caleb talk about teaching Jessie to ride her bike, and showing her around the neighborhood, taking her to the park down the street. Then as they started kindergarten, and her parents asked him to make sure she didn’t get lost on the way those first days, was all very fascinating to me. As well as all the important things that had occurred between that first meeting, and their senior year of high school, it was very interesting.

It wasn’t a terribly long story, but it was the longest that I’d ever written. It was about ten pages long, single spaced, ten point type, so not short either. When I finished with it, I knew that it wasn’t the novel, but just an introduction to the characters and their relationships to each other. It dealt with the introduction of Katie, who had been too shy and selfless to introduce herself to me before, and explained how and when Tyler came in to the picture.

Part 2 of About writing Cross Roads will follow shortly, it is the other half of this post, and will complete this post.