Bob Harvey: My Writing Process.

The thriller genre has always been a personal favourite, whether by way of novels or films, since intrigue and deceit, sprinkled with a generous helping of twists and turns, hold my interest and are heaven made for strong subtext. Because I believe it’s vital to stimulate the reader and maintain strong story momentum I tend to write in short chapters, which gives me an opportunity to break up the narrative and insert cliff-hangers in order to build tension and elements of mystery.

I think it’s important not to be didactic or preachy in any way, whatever points are relevant to the story with regard to human interaction, politics, greed, and so on. Whilst storytellers often feel it is part of their responsibility or even purpose to offer the benefit of personal insight and enlightenment to their readers, I tend to focus on creating a strong plot with interesting, credible, characters written in humorous vein. Snapback is a comedy-thriller created for entertainment value rather than anything of deeper significance, with a sting in the tail that involves invasion of privacy and our obsession with celebrity, these personal concerns being worked into the story without the need to bash the reader over the head with a metaphorical sledgehammer. Whatever serious situations occur within a story, the overall effect for me has to be a combination of mystery and fun, the prime objective being to sustain interest and be thought-provoking, but never to tread water, and always to entertain.

For this reason the hook, or set-up, is critical and after the first draft is completed I often rework the opening chapter, or write a completely new one, to ensure that the reader is swept immediately into the unfolding narrative. Tying up the plot lines is also essential. Readers should never be left to imagine their own endings (unless that is a specific intention) or be confused about any elements within the story. To that end, covering my tracks is part and parcel of the writing process.

On average it would take me nine months to write a first draft, three of which are generally spent working through the plot in timeline form. In this way I can keep an eye on the chronology of events (whether they are subsequently re-juxtaposed for dramatic effect or not) and trawl back through this timeline so that I can insert set-ups for pay-offs that became evident after writing the first draft. When I’m happy that there are no holes in the plot I start on the prose, developing the characters as I go. This isn’t to suggest the characters are secondary to the plot. My characters are created in tandem with the story, but there is no point creating interesting protagonists if there is no vehicle to place them in. The plot would already have told me the essentials of their character traits, ambitions and purpose within the story, so although some lines of dialogue may have been written at an early stage, it now becomes a matter of fleshing them out more fully. In some instances this development may give me cause to rework part of the plot, but rarely affects the overall story in either the narrative drive or eventual outcome.

There is no question that for thriller writing the word processor is an integral part of the process, since the re-juxtaposition of scenes and chapters would be a nightmare without the ability to cut and paste, which allows ultimate control and flexibility over the manuscript.

I lose count of the times I re-read my work after it has been ‘completed,’ always spotting sentences that can be constructed better, or elements of confusion that could be made clearer, or just straightforward editing and removal of unnecessary words and sentences. Feedback from outside sources is also imperative. Surprisingly the Kindle, or any e-book reader, has become an essential tool in the checking and proof-reading process. Whilst text appears in a block in Word and errors can be easily missed because of a familiarity with the line scan, it’s somehow easier to read and find grammatical errors using the Kindle because of its user-friendly book layout – and frankly that’s a good enough reason for me to own one.

I always bear in mind the advice of Robert Mckee, screenwriter and author of the book Story, which is to continually rewrite your way to perfection. Everyone’s ideas of perfection are naturally subjective, but the process of revisiting and analysing one’s own work is, I think, fundamental to personal fulfillment and ongoing improvement, whatever genres we work in.

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by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.