Kim Bannerman, author of The Tattooed Wolf [Double Dragon 2004 ISBN 978-1-55404-173-2] and its sequel The Wolf of Gilsbury Cross [Double Dragon 2006 ISBN 978-1-55404-380-4], talked to Suite101 about how she writes a novel.
Suite 101: When working on a novel, do you start at the beginning? Do you write the whole thing and then edit, or do you edit as you go?
Bannerman: Hmmm... process... let me think.... I often start with a scene or an idea that has particularly intrigued me, which might be the middle of the book, then build from there. I tend to write the whole thing in a rush so that I have something concrete, then I edit, and edit, and edit.
The second edit is my favorite one, I think, because the characters and major plot points are already formed -- the bones are set, and that's when all the muscle and flesh gets added. It's pure creativity.
Suite101: Where do you get your ideas?
I don't know. I really don't. I read a lot and I have a wide variety of interests, and I'm very fond of trivia. A bunch of obscure, strange facts that I've read will suddenly intersect and combine in a tantalizing way, and BANG, a story idea is formed.
There's no rhyme or reason to it. Ideas can arrive at any time of day or night, while I'm working or having a bath or sleeping.
I should also mention, I write all my ideas down, but hardly ever use them. I have notebooksfull of ideas, like vast graveyards of concepts. I don't know what I'll do with them, if anything, but I wanted to mention it because I don't want it to sound as if my ideas are like lightning striking. They are plentiful and multitudinous. The primordial soup of facts & figures offers up lots of ideas, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're all good ones.
Suite101: I understand you are nearly finished your third novel. Can you tell us anything about it?
Bannerman: It's a historical murder mystery that takes place on Vancouver Island at the end of the 1800's, and I was able to finish it with the (much appreciated) assistance of the Canada Council of the Arts. This novel was a great way to marry my love of writing with my fascination for the history of the town where I live.
I'm used to writing about places that don't exist, so it was wonderful to write a scene, and then go for a hike where the scene had taken place, over a hundred years ago. In fact, the coffee shop where I write is situated in a building which housed a tinsmith during the era of my book, so parts of my story took place in the exact spot where I was sitting when writing it. Geeky, I know, but it made me smile.
For More About K. Bannerman
For more info about Bannerman and her writing, check out her website.
The first part of this interview can be found here.
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