All language subtitles for Masterclass - David Baldacci Teaches Mystery and Thriller Writing - 11.Writing Process

pretty much every writer I ever have

known when they starting out had another

job, you know, and that certainly was my

case. I was a trial lawyer for about a

decade in Washington DC and that was a

time period where I was really focusing

on my on my novel writing career. I'd

done screenplays, didn't really success

and I thought, you know what, I want to

attempt a novel. So, here's how I broke

it down. I had a family back then. I was

married. I had one child at that time.

And I worked regardless of whether you

like lawyers or not, they work really

long hours because that's how you make

your money. You work hours and you get

paid by the hour. So for me, I had to

find a time where it would work for me

and my family and my professional career

uh to be able to write. And I chose very

late at night uh because I usually got

up in the morning. Washington DC traffic

is is terrible. So I had to leave early.

I didn't have time to write in the

morning. So I would come home, I would

spend time with my family. They would go

off to bed and around 10 o'clock I would

go downstairs in my little cubby and I

would write from like 10 till 2 in the

morning every day, seven days a week.

And I did that for years. And that may

sound a little draconian, but trust me,

if you really enjoy the the craft of

writing and you're really into your

stories, I remember like running down

the stairs to my cubby hole at 1000 p.m.

because that was my time. That's when I

got to write what I wanted to write

during the day when I was working at my

at my lunch hour. you know, if I had 30

minutes where I could, you know, eat a

sandwich at my desk, um, I would pull

out my notepad and I'd start writing

down some story ideas and notes that I

wanted to work on that night or

computer. I'd pop on my computer and

maybe bang out a page during lunch. Um,

while during the course of the day, you

can take find a minute here or a minute

there. You can go out and take a walk

just a few minutes where you can build

up stuff in your head so that when you

go down, if you're going to write at

night or early in the morning, you can

hit the ground running and you know

where you want to go that night. I

approached it brick by brick much like I

did my legal cases. I worked I did trial

work. I did business deals. They're both

involving little details. And so with my

books, I would go down and I would look

a little bit each day. Here's my little

goal. Here's what I want to accomplish.

And I do and I set it aside and I think

about it the next day. And I come back

the next night and I put another brick

in the wall.

A lot of times when people come up to me

and at parties or book events and stuff,

they know I'm a writer and they come up,

you know, I'd think I could write a book

if I could just find the time. And I'm

always very encouraging to those people.

I say, you know what, I think you can,

too. Everybody has a story in them. You

know, try to find the time. But I'm

thinking to myself, you're probably not

meant to be a writer because, you know,

if you really wanted to be a writer, you

would find the time somewhere in your

life. Most people, you know, how much TV

do you watch during the day? uh how long

are you on the internet surfing around

stuff, you know, looking at really cute

cat pictures on Facebook? Anybody can

find a few minutes during the day, but

writer, it's this compulsion, you know,

when I say I can't not write, that's

what I mean. I can't not write. If I get

up during the day and I'm I haven't

written anything that day, there's this

void in me. So you find the time if

you're really into your career and

that's like any other career if you're

an actor or you're musician or an

artist. Uh telling them that I you know

I can't find the time they would look at

you and go that's ridiculous. You know

this is a passion. This is part of who

you are who you identify as. So I think

writers who are really meant to be

writers who are going to go through this

gauntlet you know of obstacles and come

out the other end those are the ones who

will find the time they can. If you want

to be creative writing stories, you have

to be very creative in finding the time

to write those stories. And most people

who have that inner drive, they will

find it.

I have friends who are incredibly

disciplined and they have a process

whereby they write 2,000 words a day

every day and once they get to 2,000

they stop. It could be in the middle of

the sentence and they stop. I have

others who count pages. They write five

pages every day of their lives and when

they get to five pages they stop. It

could be the middle of a paragraph.

They're out of there and that works for

them and that's absolutely fine. They

may work for you and that's absolutely

fine. My days and my processes are

typical for being atypical. So I don't

have two days that are alike. I don't

count words. I don't count pages. Um

some days I don't write anything at all.

I go in I think about what I'm going to

write about or I'm interviewing somebody

or I'm doing some research or maybe I'm

doing some editing. When I sit down to

write, I write until my tank is empty

that day. So, it could be three words,

zero words, 4,000 words, 12 pages, one

page, zero pages. I don't really care

about the quantity of that. I care about

what I've got up here and get it down on

the piece of paper exactly as I want it

uh at that moment in time. So, every day

for me is a little bit different. And

that's not to say that, you know, that

process would work for other people. You

all have to find the process that works

for you. And you may go through multiple

methods. You know, you may find one

works for you, you know, fine or another

does. Or you may change down the road.

You may be having one process for two or

three years. It works great for you and

then all of a sudden you're like, you

know, let me try something else. It

might work a little bit better for me.

The perfect place to write does not

involve a physical space. I also know

some writer friends who have to write in

the same the same desk with the blinds

open at a 45 degree angle and the

sunlight is hitting, you know, the top

of their desk and the paper and they

have the special pen and that's all cool

and that may work well for you. For me,

the perfect place to write is in your

head. If you're in the zone in your

mind, you can write anywhere and I truly

do write anywhere. I write on trains,

planes, cars, at restaurants with 150

people around and I'm in the back

corner, you know, with my computer

working. So if you're in the zone, you

don't need a physical place that's

perfect or pristine. The mind is

pristine. And I cocoon myself. It could

be in the middle of a whole bunch of

people, but if I'm in a cocoon and I am

in the zone, I can be really highly

productive no matter where I happen to

be.

What I like to do is immerse myself in

the material. So let's say that um that

day I have a new chapter that I'm going

to write. I never just sit down chapter

24 and here we go. I go back and read

the opening chapters of what I've

written. It kind of energizes me. It

gets me back into the story. Then I go

back and read the first the two

preceding chapters and gets me back into

the story. Gets me back into the the

flow of what I'm trying to tell. I'm

getting back into the characters again.

And I'm also getting to the flow of the

language that I've been using in this

particular novel because that can change

depending on it. So it's like preparing

yourself for a run. You know, you don't

just go out there and start running. you

stretch, you know, because you don't

want to pull a hamstring or something.

You warm up, warm your body up. For me,

it's like warming your body up before

you exercise. So, read the first couple

of chapters. Um, and then read the two

preceding chapters and then that gets

you into the flow and get you start

thinking about stuff. And nine times out

of 10, that will spark something in your

mind. So, the chapter 24 will start off

a lot better than if you hit it cold

turkey.

Any

writer who tells you they have never

stumbled over a plot or had writer's

block is lying to you because we all uh

come across that. Nobody's mind is so

pristine and perfect that they just have

fluid thought throughout the entire

course of writing a novel. And I've run

into, you know, where I've written

myself into a corner and I don't want to

get out of it. I don't know where the

plot is going to go next. I'm not sure

the next vital clue that I'm going to

put in there. I haven't figured that

out. I mean, it absolute power. It got

down to the point where uh I was

thinking, you know, you find a greasy

thumb print on inside of an engine and

that's a fingerprint that you can

identify somebody off of a car

inspection. That takes this pop out of

your mind. It takes a little bit of

thought. So, when I have writer's block,

I either do a couple of things. One, I

will go off and work on another project.

Uh it might be another writing

assignment. I could be a newspaper piece

that I've written, a short story. It

could be a nolla that I've been working

on, or maybe a screenplay. And that

frees up your mind, but part of your

subconscious is thinking about the plot

problem that you have with the book. Uh,

two, it sounds really stupid, but it

absolutely works for me is I go take a

shower. I mean, when I have that water

pouring over my head, I can't tell you

how many plot dilemmas and writer's

block issues I solve while having a

shower. And the other attribute to that

is that I'm astonishingly clean at all

times because I take so many showers.

It's just wonderful stuff. Um or I'll

just go take a walk, you know. And I

walk a lot in my neighborhood and and my

wife when people move into our

neighborhood and they're they're newbies

there. She always goes over and welcome

to the neighbor. We live at the end of a

long street and we're at the house very

house at the very end of the culde-sac.

And she'll go and welcome them with a

pie or something and she'll say and

she's a picture of me and she goes, "If

you see this man walking around the

neighborhood and he might come and sit

in your yard and be dazing off, you

know, into this guy, uh he's not

dangerous and here's a phone number.

Call me. I'll come and get him. Um

because long walks just free your mind

up. You know, it's like there's a little

bit of relaxation that takes place. When

you're tense, it's really hard to sort

of think clearly. So, you walk, you look

at the sky. If you have a dog, walk the

dog. Just let your mind wander a little

bit. Wandering minds solve a lot of

complicated plot problems. So, let your

mind wander.

You know, I'm at the point in my career

where I know the publishing schedule

cold. So, I I always publish in the

second week of April and in the second

week of November. So, those those are my

posts and that's where Beldachi books

come out each year. So, I know in order

to do that, I know exactly when I have

to deliver first drafts of these novels.

I know when the editing process has to

be completed and done. And so, I never

miss those marks. And so in my mind it's

like I've taken the calendar and I've

backed up and so okay if I start here

then I have until here for the first

step and then here for the second step

and third it's done. It's got to be done

by that point. One thing that um I'm

really fast at I'm the fastest editor in

the west. I mean I think any publisher

and I I work with a number of them you

know if they expect to get the

manuscript back um with editing in a

month they get it back from me in about

4 days. And because I totally immerse

myself in that process, I love the

editing process where I can take a whack

at the entire length of the novel.

Everything is in my mind. I have every

detail in my head. I know exactly where

everything's supposed to be and I just

go through and slash it and mix and move

and and take things out and add things

in. And so I know that even if I'm a

little bit late delivering the first

draft, I know that I can always make it

up in the editing process because I've

done it time and time and time again.

And the book always comes out far better

than it was in the first draft. So you

have to have those calendar dates in

mind and I just I know my blocks cold

and I know know what my marks are and I

hit those marks. Self-imposed deadlines

are the best deadlines. You know I don't

worry about that much about publishers

deadlines even though I know what they

are. I have my own, you know, inter

inner deadlines that I'm working with

that I know that I have to hit. And I'm

not saying that pressure it is not

pressure. It is pressure. And I feel

that sometimes I'm like I'm getting kind

of close to the edge and things aren't

coming and I got to work a little bit

harder. Uh but at the same time, you

know, when you immerse yourself in the

material, I know I keep saying that, but

I really mean it. You have to immerse

yourself in the material because that's

where you get the revelations and

epiphies and the cool twist and the

witty stuff. That's the only way you get

it. If you walk away from the stuff and

you think you're going to just come back

in cold and all of a sudden something

brilliant is going to hit you, that's

not going to happen. So, you have to

live this material. You have to become

one with it. And if you do, chances are

far higher that you're going to be able

to nail this stuff and write a really

great story.