Luisa Adams
Luisa Adams' book, Woven of Water, are true tales Inspired by an Enchanted Lake. This collection of short stories and whimsical drawings inspires the reader to discover meaning amid the loves and losses of growing up, growing old, and all the events in between. By taking this book in hand, you will create time for a personal retreat with the exquisite beauty of nature as your host. The reward, the splendor of grateful living, is priceless. As Luisa writes: "I give my deep gratitude to everyone over the last ten years who reminded me that it took courage, not perfection, to offer the world a written expression of love."
Blockbuster Plots [BBP]: What is your relationship with plot?
Luisa Adams [LA]: Plot in the traditional sense remained an enigma to me until I met Martha Alderson. I get nervous with boxes and graphs, perhaps a distant relative to my disastrous relationship with math in school. The idea of tension in spikes feels down right dangerous, like I could be impaled upon one of those jagged points myself!
My thinking style is metaphoric, my writing style is poetic. I love nonfiction; true tales are my favorite genre. No need to create an imaginary character, in memoir writing, there we are, warts and all. Wonderful!
I could not make sense of the process of plot as it is traditionally presented. It felt fixed and rigid, like scaffolding of steel. Martha Alderson, as a mentor and treasured friend, sensed my discomfort and confusion (hard to miss with narrowed eyes, flushed cheeks, and pursed lips) and came to the rescue.
In the style of a great teacher she did not enforce her system upon me. Rather, she began to ask questions, listen, and coach me to reveal structure inherent in my stories. Once the core was discovered, I could refine them for flow, continuity, and quality.
I needed to approach plot and structure from a different angle, or should I say a different brain hemisphere!
The weak link in my writing had always been structure. In the early drafts, my book, WOVEN OF WATER resembled a jelly fish, amorphous in shape. Martha helped me get over my tremors at the very word, plot, and revealed it to be a container, a basket with boundaries to hold the contents like a beautiful arrangement of flowers that had symmetry and style.
With her acknowledgement, assistance, and permission to find my expression of plot and structure I have learned to trust myself and a different approach to the same method.
BBP: How do you go about plotting your books?
LA: My starting place has to be the big picture, or the large outer frame of a many thousand word puzzle. My story will be oversized and rather generalized but the expanse is what I see first and the sense of freedom gets me rolling. The life experiences are the puzzle pieces cut into different shapes and colors which I begin to fit into the structure of the big picture. Rather than a box or category for scenes, my structure has to do with groupings within the puzzle that reveal storyline. For example, in Woven of Water, my mother, father, and I experienced mirror images of abandonment by life long partners. In the book they did not appear side by side. I arrang ed them into plot points to support the memoir's inherent structure.
BBP: Are you a pre-plotter or after the fact?
LA: I don't pre-plot as in outline form. I have to paint the whole landscape to discover where the shapes appear. My right brain persuasion requires I get a vision first. If I try to break it down into too many pieces I get completely muddled and like a waiter with plates precariously piled high on a tray, they come crashing to the ground and I am lost. There is a lot of intuition at work here which, with Martha's help, is supported by the practical understanding of the necessity of structure to move the story forward.
BBP: What methods did you find particularly useful in plotting out your project?
LA: Reflection is my number one "method". I go to a lake retreat to allow the stories freedom. Water is a very important metaphor for me of seeing shapes on the surface or the front story and complexity in the depths or the back story. I often write first drafts and story ideas with a pen; the flow of ideas is significant. Once down, I type it into the computer and there the structure becomes evident. The concrete sense of plotting takes shape as I work. I don't consciously set out to "plot" at this point, it simply seems to be a part of the process.
BBP: Do you consciously develop thematic significance?
LA: Theme is essential, it is the golden thread that runs through everything and is always present. However, I don't usually know when I start how to verbalize the theme. In Woven of Water the stories started out as distinct little entities. Nature, the lake setting and cottage, over time became the silent weaver of unity and I came to identify the amazing beauty and healing power of nature as key thematic significance.
BBP: Are you a character-driven writer or action-driven?
LA: I am a character-driven writer. The nuances of temperament, age, gender, and family dynamics all create a unique and mysterious blend that I love to explore. For me, emotions provide the color and texture to create dynamic storytelling. I am fascinated by character-driven stories.
BBP: Plot tips to share?
LA: My main tip is that if plot is not your thing, don't give up on yourself or it! Honor your unique way of approaching it as Martha has taught me to do. And trust that it must be present or your book will be like an orchestra without a conductor.
The job of the memoirist is not so much to invent plot as to uncover it, like solving a riddle or a mystery. My approach is more of a spiral than a linear arc. The line must be continuous, starting large and moving inward growing tighter as it winds. I see each revolution as a scene, a flow of cause and effect until the climax is reached and the conclusion, the center, is the still point.