Who’s the boss, me or the story?

Listening to the voices in my head.

The story is in charge, every time.

I don’t plot or plan anything.

The whole of my writing career so far has been based on me writing down what the characters in my stories show and tell me.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that, without their help, I’m simply incapable of stringing enough words together to write a story that makes sense.

I know I’ve said it before, I used to have trouble writing a letter home and I always hated writing official reports. I managed by putting a number in every box and keeping my comments brief.

You have to get past the initial surprise of being shown a film in your head, like a dream when you’re awake. At first I thought I was going crazy. It was only when I spoke to other creative types and found that they shared this experience that I started to relax and let it happen.

When you let the words start flowing, you come to accept that you are merely a conduit for the voices in your head. At that point, everything else falls into place.

Now I’m used to it, I’m quite happy to leave the voices to get on with it, all that’s required of me is to sit at the keyboard and type.

My characters tell me their stories via that film. I have no idea what will happen next. I never anticipate the action, I just type what I see. I’ve tried guessing where the stories are going and it’s ended badly, lesson learned.

Although, with some of the regular characters that visit me, I’m getting used to the way they live their lives and the adventures they get into. But plot twists, reveals and the big ending all happen in real time, without any planning. I get to experience the narrative in the same way as a reader will.

Doing it that way, I have no option but to let the story be the boss. When we get to an exciting bit the action slows down to give my fingers a chance to keep up. Very often, I’ll see the same scene several times, from different angles. I guess that whoever is passing me this stuff is making sure that I’ve described it correctly.

But it’s not all plain sailing, with me just seeing what they show me and writing it all down. If only. Inevitably, we come to the arguments, the petulance and the moods.

Honestly, for voices in my head they can be anything but helpful sometimes. Don’t forget I had three daughters. I’m used to arguments and moods. It can get quite messy at times - as they fight for the right to tell their stories.

For example, there might be one set of characters who want to tell me their story but the set who are currently doing it want to carry on. Which results in a headache while they argue about whose story is more important, or interesting or…, whatever.

Then there are the times when whoever is narrating gets fed up and leaves, usually at a really interesting part of the story. I might not hear from them again for ages. Meanwhile, I have to wait for someone else to turn up.

I always hope that they will be one of the familiar ones and that they will restart an old story. More often, it will be something completely different. Leaving me with another half-finished novel to add to the pile.

As you can see, the story is in charge, there is no doubt about it.

I’m Richard Dee and I write all sorts of stories. Find out more, join my mailing list and claim your free novella below