Bonnie Vanak's Writing Tips
www.onceuponaromance.net
Don’t quit your day job - Use it to flavor your writing
By Bonnie Vanak
The dream looms large on the horizon. It beckons with a lovely chant: Publication, publication,
publication. The dream of becoming a published author usually includes saying "Adios"
to the boss in anticipation of lines longer than Hillary Clinton’s at your book signings.
Reality check. Most published romance authors, unless they have other means of financial
support, do not earn enough money to quit their day jobs. But there is a way to balance
writing and reality and using it to your advantage to become a better writer.
John Grisham did. He worked as a lawyer and this experience led to writing "The Firm."
Stephen King used his experience working in a laundromat when he wrote "Carrie."
heroine’s mother works in a busy laundry. In the book he describes her stocky body and
flavors the character with a physical description suiting a woman who labors over wet
sheets for a living.
No matter how you earn a living, you can draw from your day job to flavor your writing.
Writers are also keen observers of life. Let your imagination soar. Working in a restaurant?
A fussy customer can become the role model for a personality trait. Are you a librarian? The
quiet man who always checks out engineering manuals is secretly using the stacks as a drop
point for intelligence. Even the most seemingly mundane job can fuel a writer’s imagination.
When I worked part-time processing mail, I would make a mental note of odd names and
handwriting. Shaky handwriting might indicate an elderly person living alone, struggling to
pay bills. Bold, impatient strokes for busy executives with forceful personalities.
Store ideas in your mind while working and use them later. When I was writing
"The Falcon & the Dove," an historical set in Egypt that eventually became my first
published book, I never dreamed my day job would come in handy. I work as a writer for a
charity. I’ve never visited Egypt nor have I ever met a sheikh. But while traveling to
Nicaragua to interview impoverished people, I met a malnourished little boy I’ll never forget.
While doing revisions for "Falcon," I wanted a scene to balance my hero’s powerful alpha
personality with his gentler, caring side. I used the little boy as inspiration to write a
scene in which Jabari, the hero, offers shelter and protection to an outcast mother and her
starving child.
The inspiration doesn’t have to mirror the experience. During the day job, I once met a
gentle, destitute blind man who wouldn’t harm a soul. While composing the tomb-robbing villain
for "The Tiger & the Tomb," I created a man who wouldn’t hesitate to rob the blind.
my villain Foster Burrells, an exact opposite to the Foster I had met.
Day jobs are, as one author I know put it, a "necessary evil." But with a little effort
and imagination, you can turn that paycheck into fertile ground for a productive mind.
Bonnie Vanak is a published author whose second historical romance, "The Tiger & the Tomb" is
a December 2003 Leisure release.
We appreciate Bonnie's contribution to the writing tips at Once Upon A Romance.
Please, visit her website for more info. Click on the link below.
www.bonnievanak.com
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