DOWNRIVER WRITING
Follow the Natural Current of Your Story
by Author and Writing Coach Jane Ann McLachlan
DOWNRIVER WRITING
Many writers mull over an idea in their minds for years before it gels into something they can work with.
Some write their story several times in different forms or different genres before they are satisfied.
Some struggle with how to begin the tale while others start with great enthusiasm only to flounder or
give up in the middle. Others have no idea how to bring it to a satisfying conclusion.
These problems occur and recur even to those who have already published a novel. I call that
‘upriver writing’ because no matter how confidently you begin, sooner or later you feel like you’re
struggling upriver, pushing your story against the current with every sentence. Maybe you steel yourself
and sit in your chair until you’ve pounded it out to the end – and then wonder why your plot feels forced
and your characters contradict themselves and the pacing drags. After several full re-writes you may
get it closer to what you first envisioned, or you may just quit and try again with a new idea.
There is a better way. I developed a process I call ‘downriver writing’, when your story flows naturally
from the initial idea to the finished draft. When you write downriver, you follow the natural current of
the story – writing downriver, not upriver, against the current. Every aspect of a story has a natural flow
from one thing into the next. The repercussions of each decision you make about your story flow like ripples
into the next decision, whether you are talking about character, setting, theme, or plot. When you write this
way every twist, surprise, and revelation seems right as it happens, and feels right to your readers.
There’s no secret to downriver writing, but there is a process – a creative, flexible process you can learn.
You don’t have to be a rigid plotter. In fact, I’m not a plotter - if I plotted out every scene of my novel,
I wouldn’t write it because it would feel like I already had. But I do map out the current of the story, and
that’s what I teach my students to do. Because before you can write your story, you need to know what
your story is, so clearly that writing is as simple as floating downriver on a raft. You’ll still have to steer
your craft, but you won’t have to fight the current. You won’t have to stop and wonder where your
story should go next, or feel like you’ve lost the thread of your story.
I teach the Downriver Writing method in my writing books, workshops and courses, and now I
want to share it here, in the writing tips on my blog page. Because nobody with a will to write and
a story inside them should be silenced by fear, lack of self-confidence, or the lack of teachable skills.
"Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be sadly silent if no birds sang except the best."
________________________________________________________________
THE USE OF MORAL CHOICE IN DOWNRIVER WRITING
Your character's moral choices are an essential aspect of downriver writing. Think of the river of your story as having a
visible current—that’s the external plot-based conflict that propels your characters’ actions—as well as an undertow,
a less visible current also propelling their behavior and not necessarily in the same direction—that’s the inner
character-based conflict that comes from having to make a difficult moral choice.
A moral decision is one that will have consequences for other people. Deciding to have a peanut-butter sandwich
for lunch is not a moral choice, it’s just personal taste. Deciding to serve peanut butter sandwiches when your
spouse’s ex, whom you know to be fatally allergic to peanuts, is coming for lunch—that’s a moral choice.
Readers are drawn to a story that makes them ask: what would I do? We aren’t all superheroes or brilliant detectives
or royalty, but we all make choices. And most of our choices have moral implications. If you want to create complex
and sympathetic characters, the key is to let your readers in on their ethical quandaries.
Each moral decision we make changes us, changes the course of our lives, and has an effect on all our future moral choices.
In the same way each moral decision your protagonist makes will naturally determine the development of his character
and the course of your story.
Many writers mull over an idea in their minds for years before it gels into something they can work with.
Some write their story several times in different forms or different genres before they are satisfied.
Some struggle with how to begin the tale while others start with great enthusiasm only to flounder or
give up in the middle. Others have no idea how to bring it to a satisfying conclusion.
These problems occur and recur even to those who have already published a novel. I call that
‘upriver writing’ because no matter how confidently you begin, sooner or later you feel like you’re
struggling upriver, pushing your story against the current with every sentence. Maybe you steel yourself
and sit in your chair until you’ve pounded it out to the end – and then wonder why your plot feels forced
and your characters contradict themselves and the pacing drags. After several full re-writes you may
get it closer to what you first envisioned, or you may just quit and try again with a new idea.
There is a better way. I developed a process I call ‘downriver writing’, when your story flows naturally
from the initial idea to the finished draft. When you write downriver, you follow the natural current of
the story – writing downriver, not upriver, against the current. Every aspect of a story has a natural flow
from one thing into the next. The repercussions of each decision you make about your story flow like ripples
into the next decision, whether you are talking about character, setting, theme, or plot. When you write this
way every twist, surprise, and revelation seems right as it happens, and feels right to your readers.
There’s no secret to downriver writing, but there is a process – a creative, flexible process you can learn.
You don’t have to be a rigid plotter. In fact, I’m not a plotter - if I plotted out every scene of my novel,
I wouldn’t write it because it would feel like I already had. But I do map out the current of the story, and
that’s what I teach my students to do. Because before you can write your story, you need to know what
your story is, so clearly that writing is as simple as floating downriver on a raft. You’ll still have to steer
your craft, but you won’t have to fight the current. You won’t have to stop and wonder where your
story should go next, or feel like you’ve lost the thread of your story.
I teach the Downriver Writing method in my writing books, workshops and courses, and now I
want to share it here, in the writing tips on my blog page. Because nobody with a will to write and
a story inside them should be silenced by fear, lack of self-confidence, or the lack of teachable skills.
"Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be sadly silent if no birds sang except the best."
________________________________________________________________
THE USE OF MORAL CHOICE IN DOWNRIVER WRITING
Your character's moral choices are an essential aspect of downriver writing. Think of the river of your story as having a
visible current—that’s the external plot-based conflict that propels your characters’ actions—as well as an undertow,
a less visible current also propelling their behavior and not necessarily in the same direction—that’s the inner
character-based conflict that comes from having to make a difficult moral choice.
A moral decision is one that will have consequences for other people. Deciding to have a peanut-butter sandwich
for lunch is not a moral choice, it’s just personal taste. Deciding to serve peanut butter sandwiches when your
spouse’s ex, whom you know to be fatally allergic to peanuts, is coming for lunch—that’s a moral choice.
Readers are drawn to a story that makes them ask: what would I do? We aren’t all superheroes or brilliant detectives
or royalty, but we all make choices. And most of our choices have moral implications. If you want to create complex
and sympathetic characters, the key is to let your readers in on their ethical quandaries.
Each moral decision we make changes us, changes the course of our lives, and has an effect on all our future moral choices.
In the same way each moral decision your protagonist makes will naturally determine the development of his character
and the course of your story.
Hello. I'm Jane Ann McLachlan, an author and a creative writing instructor.
This is my website on creative writing using the process I teach and follow when I'm writing. It's mostly about
fiction and creative non-fiction (like memoir and historical fiction) but some topics I will talk about here, like
writing style, editing tips, research, publishing, and marketing, also apply to writing non-fiction.
I hope you find this website, and the articles and resources on it, useful in your own writing journey.
I'd like to hear from you. Please use the contact form below to send me your comments, questions,
and suggestions for future topics you'd like me to write about here.