Kelly asked about “Cold Hearts,” so here’s an update that shows how I work from idea to story. Sort of. Not really there yet. (I know I talked about this already in the Questionable: Turning an Idea Into a Plot, so think of this as an example of that. Kinda.)
A long time ago, I wrote a story called “Hot Toy,” about a woman named Trudy who, on Christmas Eve, was searching for a toy that had been promised to her nephew Leroy by his no-good-rat-daddy who had run off with nanny. Trudy had a sister named Courtney who wasn’t handling her husband’s desertion well: she was drunk and ripping the arms off gingerbread men and dipping them into her gin. I hate gin, so I’m not sure why I picked that particular poison, but there was something about a woman who would do that that intrigued me. She was bitter, but she loved her son and she was trying to cope, but it was Christmas Eve, and she was going to have to explain to her little boy where Daddy was the next morning along with why there was no Major MacGuffin doll under the tree, so for one night she got drunk and made gingerbread. She was always there in the back of my head, and then one day she showed up talking in this jewelry store so I wrote it down.
What I got wasn’t a scene, of course, it was just chat. For me, it always starts with chat. But it was a first draft so that was okay. So there’s Courtney, some years after her divorce (anywhere from two to six), working in a jewelry store and being patronized by her boss, Jordan. She was still angry and frustrated, but not so much at her husband any more because she’d written him off, more at life in general. And there was Henry, the security guard, a grandpa kind of guy, and Laura Nyro singing Wedding Bell Blues on the store stereo. So Courtney’s talking to Henry, and he’s trying to support her and then a thief showed up, and I liked him, but he wasn’t a love interest and I wanted this to be a romance. Probably. So I sent in another guy. I thought he might be a cop, but that was boring and predictable, so I kept writing and he turned out to be another thief, and he worked as the love interest so that was more interesting. The conflict was still all over the place with way too much info dump, but hey, first draft. Then I wrote a scene with Courtney trapped in the vault with the thief/love interest (I kept giving him different names) and a scene with Courtney talking to her sister Trudy the next morning and then a bunch of text messages between Courtney and the love interest (still looking for a name). The problem is, none of that taken together as a plot was story. It was Stuff. Story is a protagonist and an antagonist in a life-or-death struggle, not some woman who doesn’t like her boss. Hell.
So I wandered off to work on one of the ten million other things I had to do.
Because here’s the thing: sometimes stories need to time to rise, like bread. So the story rises, and you work on it and punch it down, and then it rises again. There’s no point in forcing things, especially if you have other stuff to work on.
I kept thinking about Courtney. It was clear that there had to be an exterior plot with an exterior antagonist for her, either as a main plot or as a subplot to the romance plot, and there was Jordan, already a problem, so he could be an antagonist as long as he was actively out to get her. So, okay, he wasn’t just annoying her, he was persecuting her. But why? What did he want? And beyond that, what did Courtney want? To keep her job, but that’s a negative goal, she needed a positive goal. So I was a little bit farther along, I had a protagonist and an antagonist, but no conflict, so there was still no story there.
I wandered off again.
Then one day, I started to think about the vault. What’s in there? I was going with a pink diamond, but that was boring (although the half hour of research I did was fun). Then I read about Egg MacGuffins and thought, “I want to write one of those” and decided it was a Faberge egg with pink diamonds. And something else, a secret compartment that everybody wants into. Although if it’s in Jordan’s vault, he can look in the compartment any time he wants. He can’t steal it, but he can look in it. No, that wasn’t right.
I wandered off again.
The next time I wandered back, I looked at the story world. There’s Courtney, with Trudy and Nolan and Leroy in her family and Henry at work. And there’s Jordan and whoever owns the jewelry story, let’s call him Winthrop Wallace. Is Winthrop Wallace on Jordan’s side or just clueless? Who else is on Jordan’s side? He has to be powerful, more powerful than Courtney, so let’s give him Colin, the first thief; that means Jordan’s robbing his own store. Also, Jordan’s a dope, so that’s not going to work, a good story has a strong antagonist. That means Jordan’s a dupe or a minion, and the real antagonist is lurking behind the scenes. Powerful, rich, we don’t like him. I’d been reading about the Koch Brothers so I thought somebody like them, entitled, using their wealth to maintain their wealth, convinced they were the backbone of the country while they destroyed it. But two rich old white guys are no fun. How about two rich sisters with an agenda? The Cork Sisters. They’ve created a private foundation and they sit like spiders in the middle of it and play games with people’s lives while advancing their own ends. And the name of the foundation is the The Cork Board. I loved that. Didn’t know what to do with it.
Wandered off again.
Then as you know, I’ve been watching Leverage for the Sunday community analysis posts, which, not surprisingly, has made me want to do a community con story, that little guys against the powerful rich . . . oh, wait a minute. So the Cork Sisters are using Courtney–uh oh, that name similarity is not good, but I can’t change either so just hell–to achieve their nefarious ends. They want the Egg MacGuffin for a reason to be named later. It’s in Winthrop Wallace’s vault and he won’t sell it to them for a reason to be named later. So they have to steal it, but they have to cover their tracks, so they corrupt Jordan through an intermediary and send him Colin (where the hell did I get all these C names? that’s going to have to change) to rob the store, only to be foiled because Tenn shows up, for a reason to be named later. (Oh, yeah, I decided to name the love interest Tennyson because it appealed to me. Last name: Dempsey, because why not.)
I like all of that that. Maybe I can find a way to change Courtney’s name. Worry about that later. Bigger worry: That huge coincidence that Tenn shows up just as Colin’s robbing the place. I’ve already figured out that Winthrop Wallace is blackmailing Tenn to steal the Egg, although since Wallace owns it, I haven’t the faintest idea why. But that gives me a dynamic, Wallace vs. the Cork sisters, using Tenn vs. Colin to struggle for the Egg.
Yeah, but my protagonist is Courtney and I want to write a team caper.
So Jordan is going to steal the Egg and frame Courtney and she finds out about it. I have some ideas about how that happens, but they need work. Later for that, I’m on big picture stuff. Courtney needs a positive goal and a team to help her get it. She’s already got Henry, and she can co-opt Tenn. She can’t involve Trudy because Trudy’s married to the law. If I’m using Leverage as a rough model, I need a mastermind, a hacker, a thief, a grifter, and a hitter. And I have Courtney, Henry, and Tenn, who at least is a thief. Hell, that doesn’t work.
I wandered off again.
Then one night I was rewatching some old Blacklist episodes and saw the scene where unidentified bad guys are watching Liz’s house on multiple screens from a set-up across the street, and I thought, “That’s how Tenn knew Colin was robbing the store.” Wallace set him up to surveil the place because he knew the Cork Sisters would be sending somebody after the Egg MacGuffin. Which means that Tenn knows about Jordan and Henry and definitely Courtney because he’s been watching them. Probably no sound, though. Huh.
I wandered off again. Hey, I have a lot of stuff to do and this isn’t even under contract. Besides, I needed to think.
Then listening to the commentary on the Leverage DVDs, I started to think about the Courtney team. Mostly, what the hell Courtney would bring to the table. She’s a single mother who works in a jewelry store, not a lot there to help with a caper. But she must have been something before that. She and Trudy grew up with a super conventional, super critical father, and she’s the youngest, so she would have rebelled. Dropped out of college, no, didn’t go to college, wanted to be an actress, no training, ended up as a magician’s assistant. Learned sleight of hand, how to pick pockets, create illusions, then she met Prescott, that rat bastard, when Trudy brought him home, married him, had Leroy, got divorced. Tried to get her old job back, but the guy she worked with already had an assistant. How’d she end up in the jewelry store? That has to dovetail with the rest of the story, maybe be part of the story, so later for that. The whole thing creaks, but I can oil it up later.
So Courtney can do all of that which would put her in the thief category except we already have a thief. So maybe Tenn’s a lot more, maybe he’s the mastermind, the big picture guy, and Courtney’s the detail girl. That means I need a hitter, a hacker and a grifter. So I’ll give Henry a police record for conning people. That was easy. Hacker: the jewelry store needs more employees so there’s a college grad student working there part time at night. Madison. Madison knows computers. I don’t know what she’s a grad student in, but she can hack enough to serve their needs. Those four would be enough to turn the tables on Jordan, but then he’d call for back-up and the Cork Sisters would get tough. Fortunately, Our Team knows a hitter: Colin. Colin’s been double-crossed so Courtney talks him into joining them, probably at the midway point. There’s a Leverage team. Then later, Courtney can co-opt Trudy if they need more help, although Trudy’s a librarian, so unless they need research . . .
But that’s too many people on Courtney’s side. The Cork Sisters have Jordan, who’s worthless, and Colin, who’s been double-crossed. They need some muscle, so I’ll give them The Brothers, four goons with brains. And the Sisters would be watching Courtney, too, so I’ll give them Dan, who up to now in the free writing I’ve been doing, was just a blind date for Courtney; that’s good, now he’s got a night job in the plot. And the Sisters will need a secretary, so I’ll give them Harriet, a fluffly little blonde with no morals who’s willing to kill for them. That’ll even things up.
So the story starts when the Cork Sisters send Colin in to steal the Egg MacGuffin (why? I have no idea) and Courtney and Tenn foil the theft. The first turning point has to be when Jordan tries to frame Courtney and she escapes, but suspicion has been planted, so she pulls together the team to fight back. The mid turning point is when things get desperate and the Cork Sisters send in the Brothers, and the team drafts Colin as they go on the offensive to prove that Jordan and the Cork Sisters are thieves. The crisis is when they lose (Courtney gets arrested?) and they shift their plans and make a final assault and win, of course, this is a Crusie.
Yeah, that’s weak. Plus, I have Courtney, who still has a negative goal vs. Jordan, who’s a pawn of the Cork Sisters, with the real conflict taking place off the page. Unless I can somehow invest Courtney in Wallace’s fight against the Cork Sisters. Hmmm. Unfortunately, I have things I have to get done, so I’ll be wandering off now. Back later. Maybe. Must cogitate.
If at some point in the future, “Cold Hearts” actually becomes a published story, it’ll be interesting to see if any of this makes it to the final version. Because for me, writing a story is a constantly evolving process based on wandering around a lot, stealing from everything I see, and then changing everything and moving it around until it feels right, and then changing it some more as I write. And then changing what I’ve written.
I’d write more, but I have to catch up on the rest of my work.
She said, wandering off again.
Political favor through the return of a lost historic treasure was the first thing that popped into my head as to why the Cork Sisters might want the egg. Some favor they could barter for returning a national treasure. Makes me think about how Sophie used the (fake) diary with that guy in England so he could use it to claim a lost barony.
BTW, did you know New York is doing a Faberge Egg hunt right now in the city? Over 200 artists in NYC did eggs and hid them. Each egg has to be found & reported by multiple people via a phone app. And of course I instantly thought, huh, what better way to get a real Faberge Egg out of a city.
Anyway, back to the point. This is very, very helpful to me and a topic I was going to ask about myself because I have a setting and characters (who keep shifting like the sands!) but the plot has come and gone and come and gone again, so I was wondering how you work from having only one piece of an idea to a fleshed out story. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one stuck in this problem and that punching it back down and walking away to let it rise again happens to everybody. LOL. I’ve been stuck on this darned idea forever (years!) and it’s bugging the heck out of me.
I think 200 Fabergé Eggs is a lot but I could see twenty which belong to the event – and then, suddenly, a twenty-first turns up and turns out to be an original one which was believed to be lost together with the Amber Room of the last Russian Czar… Sounds crazy. I guess I know why I don’t write suspense.
It’s illuminating for me to look at what actually happens as I do this; I’ve never paid attention before, I just do it. But it changes each time. Plus I have six different stories going right now, trying to get all the stuff I have for them organized and in one place–for some there’s not that much stuff, so that’s a help–and as I do that, I’m finding that I’m doing things differently now. For example, I’m doing character maps for the stories that are far enough along; that was something I made the McDaniel students do after I tried it, and now I’m finding them really helpful. I do them as jpgs and put them in my pictures folder, and then when I write, I can use them as desktop wallpaper. There’s something about having a character map that makes me thing, “Huh, this is really going to be a book.”
Now I need to go back and look at your post about character maps so I can remember what the heck they are/look like.
They were in the Pictures and Writing post, but I’m doing them with photos now, so it’s different.
They want it because one of the Sisters believes it should be in her/their possession because they are extremely distantly related to the Romanovs.
Because they need to destroy it to release the secret love letter concealed in it that reveals that the kids AREN’T Romanovs after all. OOOOHHH, it contains the truth about Oak Island. Or the Knights Templar. Or where an alien is hidden. Or the number of children Rasputin did father. Or the recipe for the czar’s infamous drink of X.
Personally, I find anything about Oak Island fascinating, so I’d choose that secret.
Of course, now I have to write a story that refers to the secret of Oak Island. (Another writer did that in one of those very complicated horror/thriller stories. It was great fun.)
Yep. I got my husband sucked into “Secrets of Oak Island” or whatever they’re calling it. 2nd ‘season’ should air later this year.
I liked this website – http://www.oakislandmoneypit.com/ I did skim a bunch of it but it was nice to see so much of it in 1 place, tidily. IF that makes sense.
I hope this bread keeps rising for you. I’m excited to read this story when it’s done.
I just don’t understand how Henry could be hired to work as a security guard in a jewelry store if he had a record in conning people. Wouldn’t they do extensive background checks for the guy protecting the Egg McGuffin? (Unless that’s all part of why he was hired in the first place – because Jordan/Wallace are running a shady place that’s really a giant con?)
PS – Sorry if this is exactly the type of comment you’re trying to avoid – and if so, please delete it with my apologies. I can keep my brain off your story and let you bake your own bread…I just get overly excited about a Crusie caper and so my brain is bubbling over with questions and ideas. But I can get the lid back on it and focus myself on what I’m supposed to be working on if comments/questions like these are more of a hinderance than a help at this point in the process.
I suppose as long as we just make suggestions, not re-write her scenes, she’s okay with it.
LOL. Exactly.
Actually, I know why he got the job in spite of his record, but that’s a major spoiler, so I left it out on the off chance that this might actually be a book someday.
I hope it will be a book someday.
Well, I dislike Jordan already, the weasel. How about the Sisters want the Egg, the Owner wants the money for the Egg but HE doesn’t actually own it, it’s just in the vault. BUT if it is stolen, the owner can get the insurance money (right?) so Owner is telling himself that makes it okay.
Colin’s name needs to change, but you can keep the Cork Sisters, because they would refer to themselves by first names, and their henchpersons would just say the Sisters.
This is going to preoccupy me for a while.
Yes, but another problem is that the short form of Courtney is “Court,” so “Court” and “Cork” are going to be a problem even if I call the sisters by their first names. You’re right, though, that’s a pretty good fix.
I’m toying with the idea of a rewrite of “Hot Toy” to put in the book with “Cold Hearts” but that seems like it might be a bad idea since people have read “Hot Toy” so it might seem like padding. OTOH, I could make it better and change Courtney’s name. OTOH, you start messing with a character’s name, you change the character. Must cogitate.
Wandering off to paint the back wall of the kitchen . . .
Call them the Black Sisters, so they can have a Black Board.
Oh, that’s good.
I’m really wedded to the Cork Sister, though. I’ll keep the Black Board in reserve as I write.
Except now I’m thinking of other names. Like the Really Sisters.
Once I start thinking about stuff like that, I can hardly stop. So I come up with the Checker Sisters (they could have been the Czekharovsky Family back in Russia…) or, which I like even better, the Switch Sisters, secretly called the Switch Witches by their minions.
Ooooh. Switch Sisters sounds evil. Or Scissors Sisters: “I can’t decide whether you should live or die . . . “
I just stuck to names that would go nicely with “board”.
I know. Switch Sisters just made me think of the song.
I support the idea of “Hot Toy” and “Cold Hearts” in one book. I don’t think it would be padding. Perhaps release “Cold Hearts” in a different anthology first and help out two other authors. Then a year or so later release the two as a set in one book.
Ooh, also haven’t been to Refab today, so sorry if it’s there, but what color in the kitchen? Perhaps we’ll see it on a cottage day in the future?
White. All the color comes from the stuff I have. Sorry.
Right. I think you’ve mentioned that before. No worries
These posts are like Schoolhouse Rock for writers. Totally want to see the cartoon versions with that jazzy music:)
And catchy titles like “How an Idea becomes a Plot” and “Conflict junction, What’s your function?”
Could be a whole sideline for you. You know, ’cause you don’t have enough to do already…
That’s one of the reasons I want to play with stop motion animation. I keep thinking that there are so many ways people learn, that if I can get the concepts down in sound, words, and pictures, I’ll have something. Besides, it’s fun.
Conjunction Junction. Those were GREAT.
My son did some stop-motion animation when he was younger. Pretty cool stuff. And we all loved Wallace & Gromit. If you did something like that, it would be amazing.
I have a visual brain so when I write, I see my story. When I read, same thing happens, I tend to visualize everything. Schoolhouse Rock was fab for me–loved it more than the cartoons it interrupted–probably why I always felt it really worked the other way around:)
Wait. Character maps? Is there a post about character maps? How did I miss this?
I love these posts that show your writing process, Jenny. Not only are they fascinating in themselves, but they help me understand what was only so much jargon before. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I just searched for it too, carolc. It’s here: http://www.arghink.com/2014/03/07/questionable-pictures-and-writing/
This is so fun! I love seeing how you approach this story and come back to it again and again. It gives me insight on kinds of process, but makes me better understand ways to approach my revisions: instead of sticking to the original semi-plot I wrote in the first draft, I can poke at it, question things, redirect. And I am doing a lot of renaming of characters.
You make learning fun! 🙂
I’m sort of wedded to the wandering method. I’ve got four (er, six) projects at various stages of construction, and at some point, one of them is going to gel for me and I won’t be able to focus on anything else ’til I get that done. (I hope.) I like the wandering method in that I get to deepen stories with layers I couldn’t have thought of straight through, and I’ll generally come up with twists and turns that surprise me (because I’ve had time to reject the first ten, twenty, thirty knee-jerk reactionary thoughts that popped in my head).
It’s not the quickest method, though. I wish I could figure out how to wander more quickly. (Time travel. I need my own TARDIS, dammit.)
I remember when you posted the store and vault scene. I loved it.
This post is fascinating and makes my eyes glaze at the thought of how your mind works 🙂
My mind often makes my eyes glaze over, too.
I remember that you wrote about negative and positive goals some years ago, but I forget what you said. Can you explain why Courtney wanting to keep her job is a negative goal? I’m thinking it might be why my current protagonist story isn’t exciting me.
Courtney keeping her job is just maintaining the status quo, not moving anything forward for her.
See next post, please, and thank you for the question. (Emily says it all in one sentence; I go on at length.)
The bread analogy is supremely useful. Especially the PUNCH part.
(-: As for the rest, I will shut up. But a little part of me is going “squee-squee-squee” in the background. Super-cool to see your process.
Thank you very much for the update! I loved seeing how the story is progressing.
As a librarian with a degree in computer engineering, you could make Trudy the hacker, even married to the law. Just saying librarians know things. 😉
The college student could be the grifter who hasn’t been caught yet which is why any criminal background check came up clean.
Just thoughts and since it is your story feel free to ignore my thoughts.
I’m not a writer but I’m excellent at administration, meaning give me a vision and I’ll be able to tell you what we need to accomplish it & who. Very detailed focused & a perfectionist, who isn’t trying to recover from it.
Thanks again!
The problem is that Trudy is an established character from a previous story, so suddenly making her a hacker might be suspicious. Although if I rewrite “Hot Toy” to fit, I can make her anything I want. Hmmmm.
It was a novella that centered on her getting a toy. I knew she worked in academia due to the dating history, but forgot she was a librarian. A lot of her backstory, which I’ve leaner end isn’t story and therefore wasn’t told unless necessary, we never knew. So, I’m rooting for the hacker librarian, if not Trudy, maybe in a different book.
I do love librarians.
Everyone should love librarians. They hold the keys to EVERYTHING.
Pleanty of librarians are great at computers. I worked with a young man who is a coding librarian now, he builds library software.
I vote for transforming the Faberge egg into a pink-diamond-encrusted coronet.
Maybe Wallace is her Uncle and has been hinting around that he’s not long for this world and that one employee will inherit the store… and Courtney needs the money for her kid?? Positive goal: convince Wallace to give her the store – Jordan, is, of course, vying for the same thing.
As far as what’s in the egg? An SD card with blackmail info against the Cork sisters that could potentially topple their empire……
Just throwing some ideas out there 😉