reading anything I could find about
my monument in online newspaper
archives and in full-text, public-domain
books available through Google Books
and other free book archives such as
Archive.com.
Immediately, the history of my
chosen building started generating
a catalogue of fascinating facts,
interesting occurrences, intriguing
characters and thematic avenues. I
jotted it all down in a notebook – just
disconnected bits and pieces that I
knew I would be able to use. When I
got to the point where I was finding
the same information, I realised I
had probably exhausted the available
sources. It was enough.The selection
It’s a common error to try to use
everything you’ve found in the
research stage. Indeed, I found a
19th-century novel that had tried
to do exactly that and ended up
a shambolic mess: a melange of
encyclopaedic gatherings and a thin
plot to hold it together.
The aim, however, is to sort through
the research for building materials.
Which characters suggest themselves?
Some will be historically or factually
necessary; others will be critical to story
(protagonist, competitor, ally). Which
scenes would be most stimulating to
read? The research will usually have
suggested at least ten scenes, which can
be distributed throughout the book
as chapters (opening scene, mid-point
apogee, climactic action scene).
Most importantly, threads of story
will have started to form at the research
stage – ways in which apparently
unrelated things might be connected.
Why did a man fall from the building
in 1844? What started the fire in 1873?
How can I use the secret passage built
in 1812? The aim is not to tell the true
story of the monument but to glean allAuthor James McCreet reveals
the very start of the novel-writing
process: the idea and its growth14 NOVEMBER 2019
Feedingthe seedA
fter two years of
rejected ideas, I have
finally settled on
an idea for a novel
that excites me. I
am at the earliest stage – perhaps the
most exciting stage, when anything is
possible and the idea needs to grow
into the essential ingredients that will
make a novel possible.
Before I start writing, I need primary
characters, research detail, potential
scenes, themes and a rough idea of
possible storylines. Out of this small
handful will grow a plot and chapters.
It’s a process I’ve followed for all of my
previous books and one that I know
works. Let’s look at how it proceeds.The research
A novel can grow out of anything. A
character. A story. A location. A theme.
A genre. In my case, the catalyst was
a particular historical monument. As
soon as I began to think about this
place, characters, storylines and themes
immediately began to arise and I knew
I’d found my next seed even before
doing a minute of research.
The research, however, would be
essential. It would supply a depth
and range of possibilities that my
imagination probably couldn’t. The
cliché is correct: truth is usually
stranger than fiction. Thus, I set about