Writers in Residence: Kelley Armstrong

by Abbey Horner (‘18)

Kelley Armstrong is a New York Times bestselling writer of over thirty novels, as well as a number of short stories. She also teaches at the U of T School of Continuing Studies in the Creative Writing Department. Armstrong spoke about her nonlinear educational path to becoming a writer, why she started writing novels of the fantasy genre, and how she writes novels. Armstrong went through the process of writing her latest novel, The Aftermath: where she got the idea, what her outline for a novel looks like, and her fundamental belief that making a good story is looking at a character and thinking “how can I make things worse?”

Following her talk, students in the audience asked questions about the publishing process, the level of planning she does before starting to write, and the challenges of writing on subjects she is unfamiliar with. Through her presentation and responses to questions, Armstrong provided valuable insight into the writing and publishing processes.

Armstrong spoke about her process of becoming a writer. She discussed how she wanted to be a computer programmer, but following a conversation with her guidance counsellor, she was advised to pursue a more “female career”--a bachelors in psychology. She had started her studies but quickly realized that “as a Clinical Psychologist, [she] would have no time to write and became a computer programmer in order to have time to write.”

Armstrong also discussed her attitude when it comes to the planning process. Unlike Terry Fallis, our guest speaker the week before, she was not an extreme planner, but she was not a pantser either. She creates a ‘Five W’s’ outline, jots down a few major plot points, and plans out exactly what will happen in the next few chapters. She has a general idea of the ending of the book but is not “fixed” in the decision. Further down the road, her plots typically change direction.

I found this interesting because I have always been more of a planner. When preparing for NANOWRIMO, an internet-based creative writing project that takes place during the month of November where participants attempt to write a 50,000-word manuscript, I had almost everything planned out. Although not as intense of planning as Terry Fallis, I had completed a general summary of the plot, notes of all plot points in each chapter, and a description of each character that I stuck with throughout the novel.

Armstrong, however, does some planning, but rarely sticks with all of her original ideas. In fact, sometimes, part way through a mystery novel, which coincidentally was the genre of my NANOWRIMO novel, she will change the identity of the antagonist. I find this particularly interesting because I enjoy writing and reading mystery stories and have always considered an antagonist as a fixed character. I believe that recognizing that not all planning has to be definite and you have the freedom to change to what might “make more sense” with the direction of the novel is valuable lesson for me to consider moving forward. I would like to know more about how she goes back to adjust details in previous chapters to make sure the facts align with the new direction of her novel.

I also found her contrast in views regarding topic selection interesting. Many writers have given the advice: “write what you know”, yet as a fantasy writer, Armstrong has a different perspective. She believes that she has developed the ability to empathize and imagine these different worlds due to the diversity of her reading. She thinks what it would be like to be this different person, the challenges they may face, and how they may react to them. She then uses this perspective and writes around it. I think that this is an interesting idea to use when writing fiction, which has the ability to be set in worlds unlike our own. I hope to develop my ability to think this way, potentially by reading some of her novels, as thinking this way would extend the possibilities of my fictional prose.

I found her advice on publishing the most interesting, however, as these presentations are the first advice that I have received on the topic. She said that the early chapters of a novel’s manuscript must grab a publisher’s attention. In order to do this, she prefers to “write everything in lots of detail and then move stuff” because most readers, let alone publishers have the position that: “if the first 50 pages don’t grab me, I’m gone.” I found this helpful because I have never considered writing and publishing novels, and her advice got me thinking about the process. I would like to know more about the connections between her editing and publishing processes.

The greatest insight for me, however, was when Armstrong said that whenever she is considering the plotline for her main character, she always thinks “how can I make this worse?” She always falls short of killing off the character, but  ensures that the happy ending is earned. Armstrong said that she believes in torturing her characters because it “raises the stakes, raises tensions, keeps readers turning the pages”. As a writer who also primarily wants my reader to be entertained, I found this a valuable piece of advice.

I found her presentation engaging, informative, and entertaining. Although her presentation was packed with content, it provided me with valuable insight that I will take with me into the narrative unit and hopefully beyond--if I can find the time that is; I’m not so great at Computer Science.