Suite101 writer Lynne Cobine talks to Anna Jacobs about her writing.
Some of your stories are continued in other books - do you plan the whole series or do the stories evolve from book to book?
I don’t plan any book, only do the background research then sort out the setup situation. I might get as far as thinking: I’ll write three books about this group of sisters . . . but that’s as far as it goes. Once the characters are up and running, I follow them and dream about them, and somehow the story just happens.
Do you have a list of 'can't do without' reference books and what are they?
A good dictionary, not a tiny one, either. A good thesaurus – I just bought the new Oxford paperback thesaurus for my UK office and it’s great., ‘The Greatest Name Book Ever’ compiled by Carol McD Wallace. Excellent as it says when each name was popular. But I have several other name books too. Oxford Book of Surnames, which tells about where the surnames come from and when they were used first.
My own notes. I’m very careful to file my notes in a retrievable way. For historical material I have files for each century with a page for each year where I jot down events and references to where fuller info can be obtained. Some years have overflowed to six pages long. I also have files of ‘topics’ for each century, filed in alphabetical order. These mostly contain material I’ve researched for books, easily retrievable to use again.
How do you research your English settings while living in Australia?
Books, on line, my own years of notes, facsimile editions, I did a university history unit before I started writing, amateur autobiographies. I don’t wait till I need a book to buy one. If I think it looks interesting and might be useful one day, I buy it.
You have written a book on writing techniques - could you please tell us how you plot your stories?
I’ve written two books on writing techniques, but the one I’m proudest of is ‘Plotting and Editing’ which can still be bought from www.bookworm.com.au It covers a variety of approaches as writers are different and shouldn’t be caged by ‘rules’. As I said in an answer above, I don’t plot my stories in advance. I work out a setup situation I find intriguing, develop characters in my head and turn them loose. All I know about the ending is it’s going to be happy – because I get the choice.
What other writing techniques do you recommend?
Practice, practice and then more practice! You learn to write by writing. It sounds simplistic, but it’s true. An occasional workshop maybe, an occasional how-to book, but most of all WRITE. Then write some more.
How do you develop your characters?
I visualize them in my head, think what sort of characteristics my hero and heroine should have, and then write and re-write the first two or three chapters till I know my characters pretty well. I think of them as people, not characters.
Website: www.annajacobs.com
