murder.booklocker.com

This morning I finished up my answers to an interview (by Lynn Voedisch). One of the questions dealt with some posts that I have logged here under “creativity.” I guess I’m finally coming to terms with those surprises delivered up by my unconscious. And just maybe, talking about them triggered another occurrence.

I was typing away at the third book in the senior center murder series and had to introduce two of my characters to each other. Since the book is based on a real-life senior center, I’ve been trying to keep things recognizable. Of course the people become composites or wholly-invented — don’t want anyone to be able to sue me :-)  

On the other hand, Des Plaines lists three managers on their website: one, a program manager and advisor; two, a program manager; and three, a travel manager. The size of the staff indicates a lot about funding and the number of people served, so because I’m concerned with realism, I’ll want to have three managers. 

Like I say, I was writing the part where the intern meets the first of the program managers. On a whim I typed in the name Jamie. (I think that’s probably because we’ve been watching “Mad About You” reruns from 6:00-6:30 every morning!) I had assumed (somewhere in the back of my brain) that this person would be a woman. But then I stopped myself and asked, “What if he was not a she?” What could happen to the story if he was a he, and only slightly older than my female intern? Do you see where I’m going? Suddenly I had a brand new dimension that I had never consciously considered.

In my interview with Bruce Cook I asked him specifically if he had ever experienced this same phenomenon:

Bruce: “I am sure you have heard this before, but is amazing how the characters that you have created seem to take on a life of their own when you put them into a scene. I gratefully accept this as a gift from my creative subconscious. If the character seems to want to do something other than what I had planned in my outline, I let them have their head. Occasionally this leads to a story dead end, but more often it sparks a wonderful plot twist.”

For further encouragement, I’d like to point you to an article by Peter de Jager, entitled “Five Tick Tocks to increase Creativity.” I particularly like the one, “Put ‘Freudian’ slips to good use.”