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Plotting Party

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 by Bethany Maines

Last weekend, I reached peak pandemic and hosted a gathering in my carport. It was a writer’s gathering, aka a Plotting Party, so there was a lot of sitting and staring at our notebooks. And also snacking and freezing. But, as with other joint writing gatherings I’ve hosted, we did use each other to work through problems in our outlines. No one asks more “but why?” questions than a writer except a four-year-old trying to stall bedtime. But why do you want a ball in your story?  But why is she in Ireland?  But why did the killer drain all the blood? Each story has it’s own answer and it’s fun to hear the reasoning that went into each one. 
Of course, being the writer in the hot seat isn’t quite as much fun, but it does serve an important purpose. Searching out the answers to those questions forces me to examine the clues in the story I’m writing as well as my intention for writing the character or story that particular way. When another writer points out that my characters motivations seem implausible I’m forced to confront why I want that scene or why I want the character to behave that way.  Being faced with well-intentioned friends who simply want to understand my story is the equivalent of Law & Order level third-degree. Pretty soon I’m caving and confessing that I just like something and I’ve been ignoring my characters motivations all along. 
But the added benefit of a plotting party is that I have additional minds to help me brainstorm. And with brainstorming comes encouragement and a cheering section that is irreplaceable. The pandemic has put a lot of things on hold, but creativity and friendship clearly haven’t been one of them. I see more outdoor plotting parties in the future, particularly as the weather gets warmer and I wish all of you a carport full of friends of your very own.
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Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her
daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

No More Changes

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by Bethany Maines
Recently, I took a workshop on how to convert a novel to a
screenplay. It was a fascinating workshop that gave practical tips on how to
deconstruct and then reconstruct a novel into a new format. Plot, structure and
character development are all core elements of any story telling method and it
was interesting to see how a different mode of storytelling could affect a
story.
I chose to experiment on my 2018 Christmas novella Blue
Christmas. Blue Christmas is about a down on her luck college student, Blue
Jones, who is determined to do whatever it takes to pay off her grandmother’s
medical bills – including burglary. So obviously it’s a romance and there are
diamond thieves and a dog.  Because… Christmas?
As I worked my way through my story, I saw several things
that I would like to improve. And it was not so very long ago that I loved
every bit of that story!  What the heck
happened to my perfect little morsel of criminal Christmas?! Why is it that an
author / creative person can’t stop improving on a work?  I mean, we all hate George Lucas for going
back and adding special effects and scenes to Star Wars, don’t we? When are we,
or should we, be forced to say walk away? 
My personal feeling is that once a work is in the public, then except
for correcting typos or other blatant errors, that an author should not make
any “improvements”. People end up loving specific works and changing even a
sentence or two can affect someone’s perception of a work.
Of course, none of that prevents me from making those
changes in my screenplay.
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Buy Blue Christmas from Amazon * Barnes & Noble * iBook * Kobo

Blue Jones just stole Jake Garner’s dog. And his heart. But technically the French Bulldog, Jacques, belongs to Jake’s ex-girlfriend. And soon Jake is being pressured to return the dog and Blue is being targeted by mysterious attackers. Can Jake find Blue and Jacques before her stalkers do? For Blue, Christmas has never been quite so dangerous. For Jake, Christmas has never been quite so Blue.

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Bethany Maines
is the author
of the Carrie Mae Mystery Series, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her fourth degree black belt in karate, she can be found
chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You
can also catch up with her on YouTube, Twitter
and Facebook.

Putting on the Sequel Panties

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by Bethany Maines

As my writing goal for this year, I am determined to get my
third book in the Carrie Mae series fully outlined and at least one draft
done.  Carrie Mae (for those who
haven’t picked up Bulletproof Mascara or Compact with the Devil) is the at home
make-up sales company that is a front for an international, all-female,
espionage organization.  And my
heroine Nikki Lanier is one of their top agents.  My original plan for the series involves 5 books, but life
(marriage, new business, new baby, changing book deals) has managed to delay my
production speed. I made this goal in January and as of Sunday had made zero
progress toward that goal.  Every
time I went to open up my notes I got pissy and decided to do something
else.  It got so bad, that I
actually did the dishes one day instead of working on my outline. If you knew
me at all that’s like saying I decided to have root canal instead of going on
vacation.

So Monday night I gave myself a stern little talking to and
opened my notes.  I can’t imagine
going through someone else’s writing notes and attempting to make sense out of
them. Going through my own notes is like trying to track an elusive animal
through the underbrush.  I followed
the traces of my own thoughts and began to realize that I was further along than
I remembered.  My outline was more
complete and my research was fairly cohesive.  But just as I remembered what I’d been planning to write, I
also remembered why I stopped. 
The first problem I had was that my plot involves pot
smuggling on the Canadian border and Washington State just legalized plot.  Thanks a lot Washington.  Thanks for deciding that if the medical
research indicates that pot isn’t all that dangerous maybe we should stop
spending money on prosecuting people and also try to make money off of it.  Or in other words, thanks for making my
writing life more difficult.
The second problem was more emotional. As I had been working
through the plot I came into a strategy conflict with my writer’s group.  They thought the novel was a too much
of a leap ahead in my story arcs and wanted at least one short story before the
book to fill the gap. I wasn’t convinced they were right and, even worse, I
wasn’t convinced they were wrong. 
The more we discussed the matter, the less certain I became.  And of course the more uncertain I was,
the more grumpy I became about the whole project.  So then I put it aside to “think” about it.  Which is writer code “I give up.”
But now I’m back, dang it.  I refuse to give up on my characters! I will revisit the
advice from my writer’s group.  I
will put on my big girl panties and make some decisions.  Because if I can’t dictate what my
fictional characters are going to do with their lives then I’m not much of a
writer now am I?
Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie Mae Mystery series and Tales from the City of Destiny. You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube
video or catch up with her on Twitter and
Facebook.

Mimicking Life?

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by Bethany Maines

A few weeks ago I posted a photo on my FB page that said, “If you
were in my novel, I’d have killed you off by now.” I’d like to say that was a
joke, but the unfortunate part (for everyone else) of being a writer is that I
really do use a large chunks of life for my writing. I just don’t use the parts
people think I’m going to… or should.
Over the years I’ve had several people offer me “really
great” suggestions about what to include in a novel and I’ve taken absolutely
none of them. What I have taken, or pilfered, as the case may be, are people’s
stories, experience, and random bits of dialogue. Don’t tell me that pine
needle basket weaving is a skill you keep up in case of the zombie apocalypse
if you don’t want that included in a piece of Maines fiction. Don’t invent
clever catch phrases about basic life principles if you don’t want them written
down (I’m looking at you Dad aka Ray “Lugnut Rule” Maines).
But when it comes to using an actual person, I try not to do
that. For one thing, I know some pretty complex people and capturing them in
fiction sounds hard.  And for
another… I’m mean.  I really will
kill people off, or worse.  I made
one of my favorite characters the villain in my first novel what do you think
I’d do to someone that annoyed me in real life.  Next thing you know, snooty waitress, you’re going to be a
drug mule for an incompetent Norwegian drug lord and TSA will be all up in yer
bidness.
That’s not to say I’ve never done it, but it seems like
those “characters” never make the final cut; they get edited out before the
final draft.  I think it’s because
fictional revenge might be fun, but it doesn’t make a good story. It’s hard to
draft a solid plot around the impulse to bash an acquaintance in the head,
unless the plot is “writer kills client who looks like Toad from Wind in theWillows.”
But that got me to thinking, if I was going to put someone
in a novel, who should it be?  My
grandmother? My business partner? The annoying neighbor with the miniature
horse? Or the highly suspicious old dudes across the street who might be running a chop
shop?  Who would you put in a
novel?