Why I Do Not Write With an Outline
by Frances Housden for Tinasbookreviews -2014

I always know where I want the plot to begin and have some idea where and how I want to finish, but for me the rest is an adventure and the excitement lies in the unknown.

Usually, I have the title of the book in my head, for me this is important and helps to fix the direction I want the book to take. My RITA nominated book The Chieftain’s Curse began with a dream of a Highlander, although the only way I could tell he was a Scot was from the way he wore his hair and his accent as he happened to be naked—I did say this was a dream. He was shaking his fists and yelling ‘Will this bloody curse never end!’

Needless to say I had to discover who he was and the nature of the curse he was yelling about? For me, this is the start of the adventure, the parts written in your head that become the hero and heroine’s backstories, bringing opportunities for motivations, goals and conflict as well as settings, timeline as well as research. Then I’m ready to put words on the page and in this way Euan and Morag were born. I must also confess to liking prologues as a way of setting the story up and this was in Morag’s POV and the first few important lines: -

Year of our Lord 1069

The Abbot was forever telling Morag that disobedient daughters would go to hell. He forgot to tell her that hell lay only a few miles from her father’s hall, and here she was in the middle of it, with dire feeling of dread twisting in her belly.

 Stay or run?

In these few lines we have a glimpse of the heroine’s character. As for the date—shortly after the Battle of Hastings and William the Conqueror’s invasion of England—that is when the research begins. If possible, I like to use actual historic events to help shape my plot, using the events as the backdrop for conflict, a Scottish hero and a heroine from the Northumbrian side of the borders in this instance. These parts are the nuts and bolts, the excitement comes from characters who pop up and refuse to be ignored, like Nhaimeth who is dwarf and not to be confused by the one in GOT, as this book was written long before the series appeared on TV. However he has proved to be an important character in the trilogy, almost like a voice over, or the person who moves the story forward in a Shakespearian play.

Quite a few of these characters are now in my September release ‘Chieftain by Command’ and both the hero, Gavyn, and heroine, Kathryn, had smaller parts in the first book. In ‘Chieftain by Command’ I discovered it was vitally important for Kathryn to make Gavyn fall in love with her, as that was the only way for a woman to gain power. Gavyn on the other hand only became Chieftain of her clan by command of the King, a job Kathryn felt she was perfectly capable of doing; everything after that just evolved with some of the motivation deriving from the plot of the first book as my characters developed further.

Then there are the lads, Nhaimeth, Rob and Jamie from book #1 of the trilogy whose stories are like the backbone of the plot. I found it wonderful to watch their characters grow and change as they became older, and I keep discovering new reasons for their reactions to the hero and heroine as well as the new characters introduced in this book. I had the opportunity to watch young Rob fall in love for the first time, and see Jamie being seduced by an older woman. None of these things were planned. As for the hero and heroine, well they had two years apart straight after their wedding when Gavyn left behind a virgin bride with a warning that when he returned, she had better be as he left her—intact. I love these complications and discovering ways to solve them.

I also love the spontaneity of action and reaction, but it has to be logical—magical mayhap—but still logical. In November my novella The Chieftain’s Feud will be released. This is Jamie’s story it’s few years further on in time and I’ve had to solve conflicts wrought by his seduction by the villainess in the previous book. Even as I write I’m almost ready to begin editing ‘Chieftain in the Making’, Rob’s story and the final novel of the trilogy. Will that be the end—I don’t think so, as I already have titles for another trilogy floating around the back of my mind—connected with but not about Chieftains. I’m calling this next one my Wicked trilogy—it has a good ring to it—and who knows where it will take me or my characters, as at this moment I haven’t a clue, all I have are titles.

Frances Housden has two sons and four grandchildren and loves to travel. She’s a member of Romances Writers of New Zealand, Romance Writers of Australia and Romance Writers of America.

Through these associations she has made a multitude of good friends and indulged in her love of travel by attending conferences in other countries.