We’re so excited to have Caroline B. Cooney on the blog today. Caroline’s recent release No Such Person has been described as “Cleverly plotted . . . rooted in suspense . . . fully satisfying.” Today she’s answering “what if?” a technique she uses to overcome a slump or to get her story moving again.
My little red cottage was perched on a bluff over the Connecticut River, which in summer was busy with motorboats, kayaks, sailboats, and tugs pushing or pulling oil barges. One day I saw a boy in a small speedboat playing chicken with a barge the size of half a football field. I thought, You could murder a water-skier that way. Tow him in front of the barge, ease up on your speed, drop him in the water, and here comes the barge. Now, there’s a story.
I think the easiest way to plot a story is the “what if?” technique. You see or imagine an event. You want to add suspense and fear and tension to your story, and of course, love.
So what if you helplessly watch that barge murder happen when you are standing on your deck? You are absolutely sure it was murder, but everyone else is calling it an accident, and they crowd around the poor boat driver, offering sympathy. And what if your sister begins to date that young man and not only refuses to believe your theory that he is a murderer, but hates you for saying so? What if you don’t even like your sister very much? Do you still have an obligation to try to save her from a person who would do anything, anything at all, if he feels like it? Is family love is deeper and wider than passing judgments or scornful remarks?
No Such Person was very exciting to write. It’s a double narrative, with each sister in a separate but overlapping nightmare. I’ve written more than ninety books, but I don’t think I’ve ever written one in the present tense before. It’s very exciting, but also very confining. It was work.
Aspiring writers often ask for suggestions about what to do if they’re stumped and the going is slow. First, print out your story and switch to using a pencil. You think differently with a pencil than with a keyboard. It helps to pretend you’re the editor instead of the author, because you can be ruthless and sometimes that’s what a story needs.
I often write a pretend letter, like “Dear Aunt Helen, I’m writing a story where there are two sisters but I don’t know what to do about the parents. I need them offstage. How should I do that? Where should they be?” My experience is that writing the letter will produce the solution, because I will give Aunt Helen a list of possibilities and sure enough, one will be good. Even after all the books I’ve done, there seems to be an element of anxiety when working on a real chapter that doesn’t exist when working on a pretend letter, and thoughts flow more easily.
About the Book:
From the author of the multimillion-copy bestseller The Face on the Milk Carton,
this riveting new thriller, set against the backdrop of a bucolic
summer town on the Connecticut River, will have readers guessing until
the very last page, as a seemingly innocent sibling rivalry and newfound
young love turn into something much more devastating than anyone could
ever have imagined.
Miranda and Lander Allerdon are sisters.
Miranda is younger, a dreamer, and floating her way through life.
Lander is older, focused, and determined to succeed. As the girls and
their parents begin another summer at their cottage on the Connecticut
River, Miranda and Lander’s sibling rivalry is in high gear. Lander
plans to start medical school in the fall, and Miranda feels cast in her
shadow.
When the Allerdons become entangled in an unimaginable
tragedy, the playing field is suddenly leveled. As facts are revealed,
the significance of what has happened weighs heavily on all. How can the
family prepare for what the future may hold?
Amazon | IndieBound | Goodreads
About the Author:
Caroline B. Cooneyis the author of more than 90 suspense, mystery, and romance novels
for teenagers, which have sold over 15,000,000 copies and are published
in several languages. The Face on the Milk Carton has sold
over 3,000,000 copies and was made into a television movie. Her books
have won many state library awards and are on many booklists, such as
the New York Public Library’s annual teen picks.
Old Greenwich, Connecticut, and spent most of her life on the shoreline
of that state but is now in South Carolina near her family. She has
three children and four grandchildren. She was a church organist for
many years, accompanied the choirs at her children’s schools, and now
plays keyboard for musicals.
a thriller, will appear in the summer of 2015. She is currently
researching the exciting, terrifying, and completely unexpected story
of the children who will one day sail on the Mayflower to the New
World.
