Fredrick Soukup On Real Life Inspiring Fiction

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

The three years I spent in correctional work, including a year and a half at a Juvenile Detention Center, had a significant impact on my worldview. The basic premise for Bliss arose out of my extraordinary and often jarring experiences with adolescent offenders. 

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

When I started Bliss four years ago, I was too naïve to know the advantages of developing a plot before starting the manuscript. I just jumped right in. (I think, however, this approach captured—if only by accident—the main character’s listlessness and disillusionment.) I knew I wanted a character from an affluent background to fall in love with a woman uncompromisingly devoted to her underserved community. After that, creating the rest of the story involved capturing his attempts to navigate two lives, one he does not want and one he cannot have. 

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

This has happened to me on every manuscript I’ve ever undertaken. I’ve learned to accept the fact that interesting characters, like people, are unpredictable. It’s impossible to plan for all the variables that go into a novel-length story, and every decision a character makes sends ripples throughout the rest of the work. Things I expected a character to do or want to do, perspectives I anticipated her having, feelings I anticipated her experience, aren’t always what they turn out to be. I appreciate this, because it’s difficult and it keeps me, as a writer, on my toes.

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

Though I only work one novel at a time, I always have plans for future manuscripts. It takes me about a year to complete a project, so I don’t need many ideas in order to stay busy or excited about what’s to come.

Although, for almost a decade now, I’ve been contemplating this story about an Amish man whose community is succumbing to modernization. I’ve started it three or four times, but can’t finish. It’s my White Whale.

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

My manuscript ideas always start with characters, and I gravitate toward characters who challenge me as a writer, those with unique motivations, dispositions, behaviors, and/or circumstances. I try to let the plot unfold from there.

I have 5 cats (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?

I used to have a Shih-poo (a mix dog between a Shit Zu and a Poodle) named Jackson, but, sadly, he passed away about a year ago. Now, my four month-old daughter, Clare, keeps me company while I work.*

*Just kidding: that’s impossible. I wait until she’s napping.

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Frank Cole On The Freedom to Create

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. Always including in the WHAT is one random question to really dig down into the interviewees mind, and probably supply some illumination into my own as well.

Today’s guest for the WHAT is Frank Cole, author of the Potion Masters series. The third title, The Seeking Serum, released in January of this year.

 Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

I tell this often to kids when I present at schools, but the origin for Potion Masters came to me when I was sitting at my desk and I was trying to think of something to write about next. I had just finished a novel (one that’s still sitting unpublished on my hard drive) and I was struggling to come up with something else interesting. - For some explanation, I often will just imagine weird scenes that may or may not make it in one of my books. The more unusual the better for me. I really do try to put just crazy weird things in all my stories and somehow make them feel like it’s normal, at least for my characters. - As I was sitting there at my desk, from out of the blue, I thought about a random family sitting in a dining room, eating dinner, and at the center of the table was a mason jar with a human tongue. The tongue was licking the glass and the family was okay with this. I remember thinking to myself, like oh man! That’s so weird and so cool! What could be the reason for this bizarre tongue in a jar being a normal situation in this household? Originally, the book was going to be about a family of hexers that curse people for a living and that idea never really caught hold. But when I latched onto the idea of a society of secret potion masters called Elixirists, the story just exploded.

 Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

This is always hard for me, because I tend to overcomplicate things, and I’m not a plotter, at all. If I can’t allow myself to be free to create whimsically, the story often struggles to come to life. Of course, I have to somewhat of a heading in the beginning and usually I start asking myself a whole bunch of questions to answer. Like, why is this happening? Why is this happening now? Why is it happening to this particular character and not someone else? For Gordy, I had to discover why he mattered to the book and how his best friends factored into the equation. Gordy’s family is unique because not everyone in his home can brew potions, but his mom is highly skilled and his grandfather, who Gordy has no relationship with because his grandfather has been banished to Greenland, was once the most evil Elixirists alive. As the series progresses, you learn more about how Gordy’s mom and his aunt and a lot of the people Gordy trusts have kind of a shady history. It makes for a more compelling tale, I think.

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

Every time, sadly. That’s the pains of someone who writes by the seat of their pants. One of my previous novels was sold on proposal and when I finally turned in the first draft, it looked nothing like what my publisher initially wanted and paid for. I rewrote a ton over the next month or so, and on the second draft, I found out they were equally dissatisfied. I had to rewrite that book 3 times! It’s way better now than what it was, but man! Was that a pain!

 Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

I go through idea famines all the time. A lot of it comes from self-doubt, or trying to overthink things. Often, I’ll come up with an idea that I’m so excited about and suddenly I’ll see a movie trailer that’s almost spot-on to what I was thinking about. Then I ask myself, did I create the idea after seeing the movie trailer or before? Then it’s back to the drawing board. Honestly, I can go months sometimes without a fresh idea and I’ll feel this hopelessness that I’m never going to write again and then one day, when I least expect it, something smacks me in the mouth, and I have a revelation. I wish I could find out what it was I was doing prior to the idea, but I’m usually so ecstatic that I have new material that I don’t give it much thought until way later and by then it’s too late to remember.

 How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

I’ve been very fortunate to work with an agent who I can bounce ideas off all the time. She lets me know when I’m hitting the mark or when I’m way off. I also go to lunch with other authors whenever I can to see how my ideas strike them. You can usually tell when you have a great idea just by their reactions. Also, if I don’t have a solid pitch for the story, I tend not to go that route. I want something that I can easily communicate the plot to readers and publishers and everyone else I have to pitch it to before I start diving in.

I have 5 cats (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?

My little dog, Darcy, is my muse. She’s a rescued maltipoo, and she’s a difficult creature because she hates the world, but fortunately loves me and my wife dearly. When I first moved into my house in Logan, I was all alone while my wife and kids finished up the school year back in Salt Lake City. It was just me and Darcy in this house and when she would plop down in my office while I typed, my stories started flowing. That can’t be just a coincidence. But she can also distract me too because she wants to play or attack someone outside or raid the snack drawer while I’m getting into my rhythm. So, it’s one of those relationships.

Debut Author Rachel Harrison on Letting Go Of Some Control

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. Always including in the WHAT is one random question to really dig down into the interviewees mind, and probably supply some illumination into my own as well. 

Today’s guest for the WHAT is Rachel Harrison, author of The Return.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

I vaguely remember coming up with the concept. I write really early in the morning so a lot of what I come up with is in a pre-caffeinated haze. I love to write about relationships, especially friendships. My relationships with my friends are very important to me, I love my friends, but our dynamics can be complicated sometimes. I wanted to explore that in my writing. More specifically, The Return is about what happens when your friends change, and the fear of losing them. I think the origin of this book was really a mix of personal experience and a vision for a more feminine, kitschy version of The Overlook hotel from The Shining. 

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

I created a detailed outline for The Return. I went to college for screenwriting, and sometimes my screenwriting background is a disadvantage when writing prose, other times it’s an advantage. When it came to plotting out The Return, it was definitely an advantage, because I felt I was able to have a clear vision of the arc of the story, what beats it should hit. Doesn’t always work that way! I got lucky with this book. 

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

100%! I’m a teensy bit of control freak, so it was a hard lesson for me to learn, but I think as a writer you need to follow your gut and allow yourself some flexibility. Sometimes your characters chime in, and sometimes what clicks in an outline doesn’t align with how things are progressing in your prose and you have to adjust. Change can be good – though, being a teensy, tiny, itty-bitty bit of a control freak, I’m reluctant to admit it!

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

I usually have ideas come to me pretty often (*knocks on wood*). For me, the challenge comes with executing the ideas well. Because of my screenwriting background, I was basically trained to think of very high-concept ideas that could be summed up in a log line. But sometimes those high-concept ideas don’t work on paper. I try not to get too attached to my ideas. I casually date my ideas, then decide if we should commit or break up. 

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

I typically only have one idea at a time. I fancy myself a monogamist. I’m really running with this relationship metaphor. In the spirit of full transparency, I have to admit that I have, on occasion, had mistresses. I’ve definitely been 20,000 words into a project and had a mistress idea. A new idea that tempts and distracts me. Then I have to make a judgement call. If I’m really obsessed with my mistress and she’s all I can think about, then I need to figure out if I should finish my current project or abandon it for my mistress.

I have 5 cats (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?

I have one cat, her name is Gatsby, and she keeps me company sometimes, but she can be very distracting. She is a brat and demands constant attention. I like silence when I write, and she does not abide! My husband has learned to leave me alone and stay quiet while I’m writing. He’s a good sport!