The Adobe Gate

Spring 2006 / Volume #15 / Corrales, New Mexico by Aimée and David Thurlo

WHERE WE REALLY GET OUR IDEAS

The question we get asked most often is where we get our ideas, so we decided to give you a glimpse into our writing process.

The easy answer is that we get our ideas from the news, from our own daily lives, from memories we've cherished--in short, from life itself. But what makes each book different is the unique perspective we as authors can bring to the works. We're talking about individual outlooks that color how we each perceive an experience or incident. With us, because we write as a team, a blend of our pasts, and our presents help us create the books you read--well, that and a healthy dose of pure imagination.

Most authors see even the most mundane aspects of life as an endless array of possibilities. For example, a painting of a cottage might catch Aimée's eye and pretty soon she's making up stories in her head about the people who live there. We both read articles in the newspapers and see far more than the report itself. We're always asking `what if' or `wouldn't it be interesting if....' and that's often how story lines are born.

We should also add at this point that the one thing we've learned the hard way, is that you can't force an idea. There's no better way to end up with nothing than to sit in front of the computer screen trying to force things to come. What works for both of us when we're stuck on how to solve a scene problem or a plot problem is to get busy doing something else--maybe riding the horse, or going for a long car ride--and, of course, anything that requires manual labor is great too. For months now Aimée has been telling David that we could get wonderful ideas by painting the bathroom, but, just so you know, she hasn't been able to sell that yet. The bottom line is you have to be relaxed for ideas to flow.

Another problem, of course, is that ideas don't always come at convenient times. Often Aimée has struggled with a scene, only to get the answer while in the shower. Then she's afraid she'll forget it by the time she gets out, so either she keeps repeating a key word or two in her head, or she gets out and finds a pen or pencil and scribbles it down anywhere she can, like the wall--which is why it needs painting.

David often gets his ideas at three in the morning, then has to get up to write them down, which means he has to go all the way across the house half asleep. He COULD go into Aimee's office, but he hates working in there. Never any desk space, he says.

Admittedly, Aimée's work space is meant to be cozy, not neat. David is far more organized, while Aimée has the floor covered with dogs and books, plus a pet rat running loose on the desk, windowsill and bookcases which are all connected.

To Aimée, that makes it homey and relaxing, and, the truth is she needs a certain amount of chaos to write. David needs exactly the opposite. Of course Aimée's choice of wall color didn't help either--it's lavender. It's hard for him to create a macho character like Lee Nez when surrounded by lavender walls.

But the `idea stage' of writing is the easy part. The actual writing process, putting words on paper, requires much more than imagination and a wagon load of good ideas. You need to research your subject matter very thoroughly in order to work out the details of a plot line in a way that makes sounds and comes across as authentic. In murder mysteries, for example, you research things like bullet trajectories, police `10' codes, finding and preserving evidence, and so forth. The information we acquire then has to be distilled through the eyes and the perspective of the character we're working with.

Each of our stories, and our series, require an separate voice and strategy for their main protagonists. After all, the sequence of events is seen through the eyes of our characters, and they are all completely different from each other.

For example, Sister Agatha wouldn't just see the crime itself. She'd see the devastating impact it has on the people in the community who are affected by it. She'd want to solve the crime from a humanitarian standpoint.

Ella Clah looks at crimes with the professionalism of a law enforcement officer, and her Navajo outlook compels her to restore harmony so that all may walk in beauty.

Lee Nez, the forever-young Navajo, serves a higher purpose by protecting the People and the citizens of New Mexico with his unique abilities.

Those individual takes have evolved from our characters' entirely different backgrounds, and experiences. The next step--the actual writing-- unfolds naturally once we've got a clear idea of what we want to happen in the story. It then becomes a matter of allowing the story to flow through us.

Draft by draft the work changes and the characters shift. During the first draft the characters are usually just an extension of either David or Aimée, but as the book progresses, they come alive as people who have their own likes and dislikes. They're still an extension of us, but not necessarily a reflection, and they have the individual personalities that our readers have come to know.

WHAT'S COOKING?

OUR FAVORITE COOL SPRING MORNING MUFFINS

Directions:
Line muffin pan with 12 paper baking cups Preheat oven to 400°F

Prepare topping
With fork or pastry cutter, blend together 1/3 cup uncooked oats, 1/4 cup flour, 4 tablespoons brown sugar, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and 3 tablespoons butter until crumbly. Set aside.

Prepare muffins
Mix together 1 ½ cups flour, 1 cup uncooked oats, ½ cups sugar, 1 tbs baking powder, 1 cup milk, 1 cup canola oil, ½ cup plain applesauce (or 1 egg). Fill each muffin cup about 2/3 full of muffin mix, then sprinkle topping. Bake about 16-20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with coffee or tea. These taste great cold too!

ON THE HORIZON:

PREY FOR A MIRACLE SIGNING - June 16, 7 PM - Page One Books in Albuquerque

SURROGATE EVIL - Coming in September

IN OUR NEXT NEWSLETTER: HOW WE CHOSE TO WRITE THE ELLA CLAH, SISTER AGATHA, AND LEE NEZ BOOKS

To read the previous issue of Adobe Gate, click here

This page copyright 2006 by Aimée and David Thurlo.