Q&A with Susan Albert discussion

Readers are often curious about how writers work. If you have questions about the process, jump in. If you're wondering about something, chances are somebody else is wondering about it, too.

do you right from an outline or just kind of wing it?

Also, do china and Ruby help you from time to time?

I started writing in YA mass-market series, so I had to outline in order to get editorial approval. I stayed with that approach, pretty much, through the first 3-4 books in the China series. After that, I began winging it.

I usually start with a situation and a problem/conflict, and let the characters take over from there. And yes, China helps out. Ruby's a problem, because when she tries to help, she likes to get out her Ouija board and then wacky things happen. But that's fun, and that's Ruby. The same thing happens with the animals in the Cottage Tales. I really never know where they're going until they take me there.

When Bill and I began the Robin Paige series, we outlined maybe half the book (just so we'd know what we were doing), and wing the second half.

Not in the cooking scene, though I can boil a mean hot dog, or use hearbs for their healing power, but I love reading about the uses and history of herbs. I do have a batch of spearment, mainly becasue it smells so good and stays green all summer. In a Westie group my Duncan is known as Chef DT, he just might have to borrow some of China's recipes. Any chance of another China's Book of Day?

I really don't think so, Fred. I'm able to satisfy that urge by putting together the weekly herbal eletter (http://www.abouthyme.com/dayletters/l...), which is really a labor of love. That is, I love the material and love sharing it with people. So as long as that itch is getting scratched online, I'm not so anxious to assemble another book. I'm really interested in the ways that online material supplements and (in some cases) even substitutes for print. We're moving away from print, seems to me. Is that a scary prospect, do you think?

Yes, very scary, Susan. I have a desktop and I spend enough time at it typing, that I like to occasionly sit in the recliner and read. Besides you can look at the edge of the book and see how you ae progressing. thank you for the link, sill subscribe to that one too. Here I had just commented on having spearmint and what is the newsletter first item, scary. LOL Gee, chocolate is a herb? Here Barb D'Amato says it's a vegetable.

Re: chocolate. It's medicinal,has been used as money, is an aphrodisiac--that's enough to qualify it as an herb. Which should mean it doesn't have any calories, right?

I do like to read in my chair, do enjoy my Kindle, but I'm with you: I also like to see (visually) where I am in the book. What I like best about the Kindle is the ability to buy a book I want at 2 in the morning, which is cool, since I live about 120 mi (round trip) from a bookstore. Reading is my passion. I could live without writing, I suppose, but take reading away from me, and I'll be ready to check out.

Nineteen years ago I became a serious mystery reader. Need something for my hands to hold. So hold-in-your-hands and turn the pages have a special meeting. Then I moved to SB, met Jeanne who turned me on to the China Bayles series. I'll be retiring in 4 months, maybe less, and everbody says oh you'll be bored. With 1500 books there shouldn't be a lot of time to be bored.

1500 books! That's a big TBR pile, Fred. But knowing you, you'll never be bored, anyway. You'll always find something to do. Bill asks me when I'll retire. I say: Never! I feel so fortunate to be able to do what I love to do--I won't give it up until I can't do it anymore.

And your readers thank you for that, Susan.

So wish I had the room to be able to make the wonderful things that Bill does.

Fred wrote: "
So wish I had the room to be able to make the wonderful things that Bill does."

He has a hard time here in the summer because his workshop isn't air-conditioned. Hard to do serious wood-turning when you're dripping sweat! Our Texas climate limits what we choose to do.

I love your writing style and character development. I have only read the China Bayles series so far, but am looking forward to the new one. I have three burning, but somewhat unrelated questions. Do you have a list of "to be written about" topics somewhere? When you are writing two or more series at once, do you ever find a character from one series screaming to be heard in the other? What advise would you give a beginning writer who wants to leave an interesting memoir for her grandchildren when they get old enough to be interested?

Miki wrote: "..Do you have a list of "to be written about" topics somewhere? When you are writing two or more series at once, do you ever find a character from one series screaming to be heard in the other? What advise would you give a beginning writer who wants to leave an interesting memoir for her grandchildren when they get old enough to be interested? "

Hi, Miki--and thanks for these thoughtful questions. Here are my answers--if you'd like more, ask.

1) I do have lists, for each series. These are usually situation sketches--for example, in the Dahlias series, I know I want to get into bootlegging, scrip (money substitute), a town canning kitchen, hoarding gold, race relations, etc. You can see that these aren't really plot ideas, but rather set-ups that will help me when I start scratching around for plot material.

2) No, my characters don't volunteer to be included in the other series, thank heavens. This is partly because I write historicals in two different periods (early 1900s, 1930) plus the contemporary. It would be a long commute.

That said, I do encourage characters to pop up and do unexpected things. I am always surprised and pleased when that happens, because it's a sign that they're willing to do some of the work, which leaves a little less for me. :) I remind them of Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of An Author, and tell them that whenever they have an idea for a story, they know where to find me.

3) I have too much to say about this to even approach it in a Q&A. In 1997, I wrote Writing From Life: Telling the Soul's Story. It's long OOP, but you can find used copies on Amazon. Then I founded a non-profit organization (international, now) that encourages women to write their lives. Check us out at www.storycircle.org. We're just what you need.

Thank you for answering me so quickly. I took an online writing course a few years ago where the students were asked to critique each other's writings. The instructor gave some feedback after all the other critiques were in. I think I must have been the only one in the group who was over 30, including the instructor. They all found my writing to be pedestrian and without any of the lurid and flashy stuff they were writing about. It was very discouraging. Now, at 63, I find I really want to tell some of the stories of my life and make them worth reading. I will check out your site and see if I can get your book.

Miki wrote: "Now, at 63, I find I really want to tell some of the stories of my life and make them worth reading."

I'm glad, Miki. You'll find that the process itself (never mind the product) is enormously rewarding. When we write about our lives, we remember things we've forgotten and learn things that we didn't know. It's an amazing journey that can take us to all kinds of unexpected places. Good luck!

This time, I have questions about revision and editing. Do you do your revisions as you go along, at the end of a chapter, or at the end of the book? I have read several books in the last sixth months where the author repeated information two or three times throughout the book. One of them did it many times. How do you avoid that? Do you have someone help you edit before you send your book into the publisher? I used to teach Language Arts to sixth graders. Can you tell?

Miki wrote: "This time, I have questions about revision and editing. Do you do your revisions as you go along, at the end of a chapter, or at the end of the book? I have read several books in the last sixth m..."

I revise constantly, Miki--one of the great virtues of the computer. I start my workday by revising the writing of the day before. Then around 50,000 words, I go back to the beginning and rework the whole first part, which allows me to pick up any threads I've dropped to that point. When I get to about 75,000 words, I go back to the middle and work forward, then finish off with the last 10,000 or so words. Bill reads it then, and points out my glaring errors. :)

But for all that, when I get the book back from the copy editor, I continue to revise. (I especially HATE word echoes: the same word or a derivative form repeated within the space of a few lines.) This continued revision is easier now, because my publisher is using Word Track Changes for the copyediting/production process.

I suspect that blocks of material are repeated when the author is revising. When s/he doesn't read back through the whole thing, they can be overlooked--and overlooked again when the copy editor is inattentive.

Let's hear it for Language Arts teachers! I fear they are fighting a losing battle. Sigh...

Good afternoon. I have been looking at the Story Circle website and found some other sites from there. One of the discussions I happened upon was on the use of verbs and adverbs. When I taught, I tried to wean the students from heavy use of adjectives to meaningful verbs and useful adverbs. This discussion would have the writer leave out any and all adverbs. I guess I am having trouble with that. Do you have any thoughts on the subject?
I am also curious about your early writing influences. Did you start writing early in life? Who do you think influenced your writing when you first started? Have your influences changed over the years?
I think it is very wonderful and generous of you to offer this opportunity for us to ask these questions. Thank you.

Miki wrote: "Good afternoon. I have been looking at the Story Circle website and found some other sites from there. One of the discussions I happened upon was on the use of verbs and adverbs. When I taught, ..."

I advise fiction writers to keep adverbs to a minimum by revising them to verbs--especially in speech tags, where they are most irritating. Examples: She said laughingly > She laughed. He replied abruptly. > His answer was abrupt or He was abrupt. I use adverbs, but I try to make them count.

I wrote my first "novel" at nine, by hand, in a "book" I made myself. I read everything I could get my hands on at the local Carnegie library, but my father was a great mystery reader and I always read the books he brought home, as well as my own. I remember loving Agatha Christie, of course, but also Rex Stout. After that, I was in college & grad school and taught college English courses for over two decades, so my writing tilted toward the academic in those years.

I've been an eclectic reader since I was four (66 years--I leave you to do the math) and it's almost impossible for me to identify influences, looking back. I've had my "Faulkner period," my "Dickens period," my "Christie period." When I'm writing historicals, I tend to read writers in that era. Right now, for instance, I'm enjoying a "Welty period" and have written about that for Mystery Scene Magazine: http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t...

Thinking more about your question, Miki, I'd say that technology has influenced my writing more than other writers have. I've written on yellow pads, on manual typewriters (had an old Royal wrist-killer), on electric typewriters. I bought an IBM Selectric in 1976 (no more correcting!) and an Apple II around 1983. Computers allow unlimited revision. It's that continued, deliberate rethinking, recasting, and rewriting that makes us all better writers.

Susan, so excited you have this format! I am so thrilled to join the group.

I know you a very busy lady. What is your process for getting yourself to sit down and write? Do you schedule in the time every day? I have been working on a novel and I find it hardest to make the time between work and other commitments. Do you have suggestions? Thank you!