It sounds cliché, but it's true, right? Everybody knows someone who would make the funniest or quirkiest (or most evil) character. Everybody has gotten into some kind of crazy situation that no one would ever believe. But how do you turn all that drama into something that everybody else wants to read? I know that one problem I always have in my own writing is sticking too closely to the truth. I'm always worried about changing any details because that’s not way that it happened. But then all I end up with are a few inside jokes that no one but me and a few of my close friends would get. (Personally, I find it annoying when an author's main character is a merely thinly veiled version of herself.) What fun is that?
So sometimes, if I'm feeling really daring, I'll take some crazy scenario and my quirky friends (um, I mean, characters) and skim off the truth a bit. I cut out the boring parts. Blow it all out of proportion. Lie. This is one of those times when lying can be a really great thing that will make your writing even stronger. Instead of getting caught up in remembering exactly how it all happened, try remembering how it didn't. You're a fiction writer, not a reporter, after all. Let yourself do things on paper that you wouldn't do in real life. (This can be extremely freeing and refreshing!) As long as your story still sounds believable, then it’s working. And suddenly you’ll find that you’ve gotten a solid plot that’s a lot wilder than you might have ever imagined, and great characters that will be interesting to a bunch of strangers—and editors—as well.
Rachel Orr
Editor, HarperCollins Publishers
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