Monday, May 16, 2011

HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS STORY: SANDRA SEAMANS


"HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS STORY: Sandra Seamans

A while back Patti asked me if I’d like to contribute a piece to her series, “How I Came to Write This Story." I hesitated, mostly because it’s hard to explain how a story comes to be. The truth is, no two stories evolve in the same way, even from the same author. Every story has it’s own pattern. But Patti persisted and here I am staring at a blank page wondering what to say.

The story I chose to write about is “In God’s Own Time” published over at A Twist of Noir” last year ( http://a-twist-of-noir.blogspot.com/2010/09/twist-of-noir-583-sandra-seamans.html ) and one of my favorites from the last few years. It all started with this bit of dialogue that popped into my head one night.

“You know, I was seventeen and pregnant the afternoon my daddy died. I put a shotgun to his head and blew his brains all over the Lazy Boy. Hell of a mess that was. I was told they had to toss that old chair out in the trash cause there just wasn’t no cleaning the blood and brains out of the fabric. Pity, it was a nice chair.”

I wasn’t sure what to do with it but a post by Charles Gramlich on his Razored Zen blog felt like he’d tossed a glove down in front of my keyboard. Charles said he didn’t care for stories that started with dialogue and here I had this great opening for a story that was all dialogue.

Oh, I wrestled with several ideas, but nothing seemed to work because the character I was trying to write, I didn’t even like. I set the story aside until Spinetingler hosted a contest that wanted revenge stories, and even then I didn’t consider this story. I dug out an old story about a man getting out of prison and seeking revenge on the step-mother who put him there.

Of course, at the time, Dave Zeltserman had a series of men out of prison novels that everyone was talking about. I figured anything I wrote would never be as good as what he’d done, I’d just be treading plowed ground. Then I wondered what if it was a woman who got out of prison?

I pulled out that snippet of dialogue I’d written and changed the “I put a shotgun” to “somebody put a shotgun” and I had a woman who was looking for the person who killed her Daddy.

Then the questions began. Who’s she talking to? I stuck her in a pickup with a kid who knew her history but not who she was. I knew she was heading home but I wondered what happened to her baby? Who had framed her and why? And slowly the story unfolded. It went way too long for the contest, but I didn’t care. I was enjoying the journey this woman was taking to retrieve the twenty years she’d lost. What I loved most was it didn’t turn into the usual story of revenge at gunpoint. It became the story of a twisted obsession and the pressure of gossip in a small town.

You can find Sandra most days over at her blog, MY LITTLE CORNER. Her terrific stories are everywhere.

11 comments:

Paul D Brazill said...

Beaut! One of my favorite stories, too.

David Cranmer said...

You know what scares me? I'm going up against Sandra and Patti in this Watery Grave contest. I ain't got a chance. :)

pattinase (abbott) said...

I was thinking the same thing when I saw the final list. WOW!

Al Tucher said...

I just went back to the story, and it has held up.

And BTW, Sandra, I love dialog, beginning, middle and end. Your dialog really works in this one.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I love stories that start with dialogue. Writing one right now, in fact. It pulls me in faster than narrative.

Sean Patrick Reardon said...

That was a great read. You do dialogue very well, and it's always cool to hear how a story came to be. Your blog has been invaluable to me as well.

Chris Rhatigan said...

Interesting post. Always good to keep those ideas around because one day they might be useful. It's a fantastic story!

sandra seamans said...

Thanks for all the nice comnments, everyone. I almost forgot Patti was posting this today! And David and Patti, neither of you have to worry about me in the contest, I never win :-) but I know how you feel, I did a big gulp when I saw the list, too!

pattinase (abbott) said...

Based on what I've written before, you have no worries. Why do these elderly people seize my stories?

Unknown said...

I just finished reading "In God's Own Time"... it literally left me breathless! Thank you so much for writing about it for Patti's series... not sure when I would have found it elsewise... I am woefully behind in my blog reading.

I really enjoy this series, Patti. I love the insight other writer's give in their "How I Came To...". It's like a little peek inside their minds... very illuminating.

I'm with Patti... I love stories that start with dialogue... done well, as "In God's Own Time" is, it reaches out and grabs the reader... you know you are in for a terrific story! The dialogue works so great here.

I'm smiling here, reading everyone's comments. I "tossed my hat in the ring" for this year's WGI, and when I saw the list of finalists, I said to myself "Veronica... what were you thinking? WOW!"

Kathleen A. Ryan said...

Thanks to Patti for this wonderful series, and thanks to Sandra for sharing the "behind the scenes" approach to your terrific story. I had missed it the first time around, but am thrilled to catch it now ~ and what a bonus to learn its path to creation!