by Lisa Black

My husband and I are building a house. This house happens to be on top of a mountain with a killer view, with which we fell in love…and only belatedly discovered that the top of a mountain is a very impractical place to build a house. Modular construction turned out to be the way to go. A modular home is built in pieces at a factory a state or two away, reinforced to make the trip, and shipped to the home site in four or so large pieces. There it is reassembled with the maximum efficiency possible—the crane and its crew bill by the minute, and any dark cloud strikes fear until the end of the day when the the interior has been closed in and protected from the rain.

Watching this process during one very long and muggy day, I realized that building a book is quite similar. I start out with an idea of what I want to do. I want a character with a dog and a fascinating job, and I want three bedrooms and two baths. I want the first chapter to begin with a murder, and I want quartz countertops. I want a climactic battle on a rooftop, and I want roomy closets.

If you’re a plotter, like me, these pieces must be decided on and structured in advance. I spend months pondering the characters, the situation, the evidence, and researching the peripheral topics I will need to round out the events. I may move sections around while still on the drawing board, decide that this needs to happen before this, just as I asked the contractor to move the utility tub closer to the washer so I could fit a hall tree to serve as a drop zone.

Ideally, these plot points all fit together to create, in the end, an unbroken narrative that enthralls the reader. Just as, ideally, it doesn’t rain on ‘set’ day.

(That killer view I mentioned.)

How do you build your stories?