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LuAnn McLane | My inspiration for writing... (and a bit of guilty pleasure).
September 10, 2012
I'm often asked where I get my inspiration for my books and the answer is pretty
simple: life! Well, to be more specific: people. When I took a creative
writing class in college one of the assignments was to go to Fountain Square in
downtown Cincinnati and simply people watch and take notes. I loved it! I
suppose it's one of the reasons that my stories are character driven. The
setting is important and the plot moves the story along but in the end it's all
about the people. If we don't care about the people the story isn't worth
reading. But even more than people watching, I have to admit that I love to listen in on
conversations whether it is someone talking on their cell phone (apparently
people think that no one can hear them but the person on the other end) in
restaurants or (my favorite) in a bar. I'm not really trying to be nosey but I
just can't help myself. I listen. Of course, this takes some skill. I pretend
to be reading a menu or looking at messages on my cell phone but my ears are
perked up and listening. Laughter always draws my attention. Arguments are
intriguing. Children are funny. Couples are romantic. Pick up lines crack me
up. How can I not listen? Dialogue is my favorite part of writing and I get ideas and learn from what
people say and how they say it. I suppose to be fair I should have a little
disclaimer sign warning that I am a writer and what you say might go into a
novel. I try not to think of listening in as eavesdropping but
overhearing and look upon it as research... and in truth, it is! I watch, I listen, gather ideas, and then I write. Hopefully, this makes my
writing feel natural and organic. In fact, I'm a *panster*, meaning that I
write by the seat of my pants rather than from an outline. When I begin a
story, all I know is the premise, the conflict, the setting and the characters.
After that, all bets are off. The characters simply tell the story to me and
the story evolves as I go and somehow it all makes sense in the end... well, at
least I hope so! Writing the Cricket Creek series has been more of a challenge since I have to
keep the characters and the timeline straight... not so easy for someone who
does very little in the way of outlining. PITCH PERFECT is the third
book in the series meaning that I have to remember details like who has babies,
names of supporting characters, and then little things like street names and
stores. But I love the little world of Cricket Creek, and I hope my readers
enjoying visiting as much as I gather inspiration for writing! Meet LuAnn on Twitter
Comments
11 comments posted.
Re: LuAnn McLane | My inspiration for writing... (and a bit of guilty pleasure).
I love LuAnn's books. The romance, humor, settings are perfect! I also love to people watch. I have a bad habit when we go to ball games to do more people watching the game watching. lol
Can't wait to get started on this new book!
(Jodi Shadden 1:07pm September 10, 2012)
I must admit that I'm not familiar with your series, but I'm in love with the name of the town that you chose!! After reading your posting today, and knowing that I, too, can't help but overhear conversations, due to the fact that people don't realize the volume that they're using on the phone and in conversation, I'm sure that I'm going to love reading your books!! I've already put you on my TBR list. Congratulations on your latest book. I think the cover is really gorgeous!! The artist did a bang-up job on it!!
(Peggy Roberson 2:39pm September 10, 2012)
I am guilty of people watching. My brother and I and now my spouse and I have been guilty of playing with the observations - doing our versions of their conversations, giving people backgrounds and personalities. It is a great way to keep up creativity and have a bit of fun.
(Carla Carlson 2:42pm September 10, 2012)
I pick up a lot overlistening to conversations that happen to be near me when I'm around others. Having a writer's imagination, I try to fill in the blanks as the talk goes along. In a Writers' Workshop, I finally learned how to write dialogue when paired up with then professor for an exercise. She was fascinated with how far I can go with an idea. The exercise was kindof like the old parlor game, Telephone, where what you start out saying is nowhere near where it ends up after passing through a few people. We took turns adding to a scene and she said, "You have that stream of conscious thing down." And asked, "How do I do it?" Seeing as I don't do anything and let it flow, I said that it's a natural thing.
(Alyson Widen 3:18pm September 10, 2012)
LuAnn, sometimes people say things in public that are truly amazing. I love
people watching.
(Nancy Northcott 4:23pm September 10, 2012)
LuAnn's books are the best... She keeps me reading her books by using wonderful stories and chaacters that I have come to know and love.. She make you want to be friends with heroine and love the hero... People watching is something I do too and try not to be too obvious about. It's fun.
(Kathleen O'Donnell 11:01am September 11, 2012)
I admit to writing character based work myself and often just have to keep going in order to find out what happens to the people!
I do not watch any soaps which do tend to be contrived for the sake of ongoing drama. But these must be the ultimate in character writing.
If I read a book in which the people are just cardboard cutouts I am not concerned about them. So no doubt your people watching is leading you in the right direction.
(Clare O'Beara 11:52am September 11, 2012)
Doing the stealth-listening thing seems to be a favourite thing of a lot of people. I know that I'm just as guilty of doing it as the next person! The worst time to do it, however, is when I'm out with friends, and we catch each others eyes, and burst out laughing from something the listenee has just said to whomever it is they are talking to, and they figure out that we've been listening in. Can you say embarrassing? But oh, so worth it!!
And the title, "Perfect Pitch"? I assumed it would be about music, because as a professional musician, that's the first connection I make to that terminology. However, the excerpt I read sounded quite hilarious, even without being about music!
Later,
Lynn
(Lynn Rettig 4:43pm September 11, 2012)
I'm constantly amazed by what people talk about in public places!
(Mary C 10:48pm September 11, 2012)
Another book to add to my TBR list and a new author to check out:)
(Barbara Studer 9:41am September 12, 2012)
I'm one those people who love listening to someone's else conversation. If they don't want other people to listen in, they shouldn't be talking about it in public.
(Kai Wong 8:57pm September 12, 2012)
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