One Woman's Writing Retreat: Karen DeGroot Carter Interview

The main idea was to simply write about a woman and her boyfriend and the boyfriend's disapproving mother. My husband is biracial--his father was African-American and his mother is French-Canadian--so I added a biracial aspect to this main idea to make it more interesting. When I realized the story needed to be expanded, I introduced multiple family relationships that vex my main character while also providing her with an important, if convoluted, tapestry of support.

Audrey is a biracial single woman who faces a series of challenges many of us will never have to face. She’s a wonderful, complex character. Because of Audrey, I was able to infuse contemporary issues of racial identity and prejudice into One Sister’s Song, making it a novel that informs as well as entertains.

I grew up in upstate New York, just north of Syracuse. Audrey’s hometown is a little farther west and north, closer to Lake Ontario. The dilapidation she sees is evident in similar older towns in that area, many of which did have safe houses that sheltered run-away slaves on the Underground Railroad. Many cities in New York State served as dynamic centers for the Abolition Movement.

The elements in that region are rough; the changeable weather described in One Sister’s Song was certainly something I experienced growing up. While I don’t miss the ice storms and the summertime humidity, I do miss the striking fall foliage.

In an interview on my publisher’s Web site (PearlStreetPublishing.com), I mention a scene in my book that I still believe is weak. It involves a racist police officer who pulls over Audrey for no reason. This was probably the most difficult scene to write because it’s stereotypical, but I also know it’s realistic; I was with my husband in Tennessee on two separate occasions when he was pulled over for no reason. In one instance, he was told to get into a police car in which a collection of KKK stickers was displayed. These things still happen, so I left that scene intact to make that point.

The easiest scenes to write were those that feature Audrey’s nephew, Julian. He’s a great kid and I loved writing from his point of view.

What kind of response do you hope One Sister’s Song will generate? How do you hope it affects its readers?

This book is in its second printing, so I’ve already enjoyed hearing from readers and learning that One Sister’s Song does impact people and the way they consider people of another race. My hope is that it makes readers stop and think before judging others based on appearances. Audrey did not resemble other girls in her high school, but she had a lot in common with them. She was raised in a very similar way and was taught the same values. Still, friends were scarce.

Describe the process of writing this book. How did you approach crafting this novel?

This book was my first novel, and it took me eight years to finish it and sell it to a publisher. Much of that time was spent reading and learning about the craft of writing fiction. The book I found most helpful was The Weekend Novelist by Robert J. Ray. Ray’s analysis of a straight-forward story, Anne Tyler’s The Accidental Tourist, made his explanations of Aristotle’s Incline very easy to understand and implement. Other helpful books are Structuring Your Novel by Robert C. Meredith and John D. Fitzgerald and How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James N. Frey.

Can you offer any suggestions to fiction writers who struggle with creating a viable plot?

Cut unnecessary plot diversions, eradicate anything coincidental, and explore what contributes to characters’ feelings for each other so their actions remain plausible.

Ray’s Weekend Novelist also discusses the importance of a problem-solution line: Give your protagonist a main, overwhelming problem; add a series of problems that have apparent solutions that lead to additional problems; make it critical that your protagonist continue to work on solving the main problem throughout the story. The reader is compelled to finish the book not only to learn the outcome of the main problem but to see how in the world the protagonist will solve all the other problems that keep arising. This is a simplified description of plotting, but it helps to keep things simple with something as unwieldy as a novel.

I just returned to writing my second novel after a long break that involved two moves, a new baby, and considerable free-lance work for my publisher. At this point I am re-learning how to fit writing into my daily life. My current goal is to have a finished draft of my second book by the end of this year. It’s a full-time pursuit in that I think about it all the time, but my actual writing output is limited.

I wear earplugs! Seriously, I write after the kids are in bed. My oldest, Jeffrey, is twelve-years-old, so, once my two girls (Lauren is six and Sarah is four) are in bed I sometimes have time to write. Frey in How to Write a Damn Good Novel suggests that you just learn to live with dirty bathrooms, but I can’t do that. So I get the cleaning and laundry done during the day and try to keep the evenings free. My husband travels a bit for work, but when he’s home he helps out with the dinner dishes, etc.. I also don’t watch much television.

A writer with limited writing time learns to "work" on a project even while away from the computer or writing desk. Writing a novel is a huge undertaking, but like any other project it can be broken down into smaller tasks. I use the three-act structure I learned from The Weekend Novelist, which requires critical scenes at certain junctures. I break down the whole story into individual scenes and work on them in any order I choose, usually focusing on the critical scenes first. I outline what I want in a particular scene and jot down notes whenever I have a chance, loading my subconscious so additional ideas are more likely to crop up during a shower or while doing something brainless and repetitious like vacuuming. Then when I do get the time, I write the basic actions of a scene as quickly as possible, without editing and sometimes by skipping dialogue attributions and/or punctuation. I can fill out the scene later with details, some of which may already be on file from a free-writing exercise around a setting or a character’s dreams, memories, or desires. Solid characters will give you plenty of material to mine.

My second novel is about a family with a child with Down syndrome. The challenges faced daily by families with children with special needs continue to amaze me. The patience exhibited by the parents and siblings in these families truly inspires me to explore their stories and work them into my own.

Alison Lake writes for magazines and newspapers. Her second book, Living Off Balance, is due out in fall 2005.

One Woman's Writing Retreat: Interview