Building an Exquisite Corpse

Sometimes I feel like I’m writing blind. Like I have no control over where my characters are taking me and no desire to whisper the directions in their ear. Writing this way has lead me to amazing places that I wouldn’t have visited if not for the tapping at the base of my skull, the voices in my head, the insistence of my characters. I’ve had a scene in my head before that my characters have struggled against and, when I finally allowed them to lead, they took me somewhere I hadn’t thought of—somewhere far better than where I was trying to lead them.

The fact that I write this way irritates some people. It amazes others. And, to be frank, it’s the only way I know how to write. I write from the gut, from the heart, and when I’m done, I sit back and see what I have. I forget who said it and the exact words they used, but I once read that if an author does not weep as they create, how can they expect their readers to weep as well? That spoke to me, because clearly the author of that quote understood what it’s like to write from the pit of emotion, to become so entangled in your characters’ troubles that you are one.

I also don’t outline my stories. The reason? Well, when I vacation, I toss the map in the nearest recycling bin and go—throwing myself into life and culture and experience without anyone telling me how I should act or feel, where I should go, what I should do. I give my characters that same freedom.

I treat my characters as I do my children. I give them freedom to roam, to experience, to taste life…and then, when the day is done, I make them come inside, clean them up and put them to bed. I only push my characters during the editing process. I decide what goes then and what stays. I never edit while I’m wandering First Draft Land—just let the story pour out of me and see what we come up with.

Have you ever played Exquisite Corpse? It’s a bit like that.

And yeah…it often has dead people too.