Finding A Story: Wendy Walker

Finding a Story

What Remains is my fifth thriller and I continue to be mystified by the origins of a story. As a former lawyer, and a person who likes to plan just about everything, this has been the most challenging part of writing. If only I could sit at my desk with a strong cup of coffee and steadfast determination and know that, by the end of the day, I would have a new book idea. I can do just about everything else this way. Write a new chapter, sort out the details of an outline, edit, and even find some new twists and reveals. But the initial ideas have never come from hard work. Instead, they’ve been elusive surprises – the kind that jump out with shock and awe – and for me, a mixture of relief and delight!

I remember the exact moment when each of my book ideas appeared. All Is Not Forgotten: at my kitchen table reading an article about PTSD and memory science. Emma In the Night: at the corner by the grocery store listening to news about the women held captive for ten years in Cleveland. The Night Before: sitting in the backyard pondering the deception of online dating. Don’t Look for Me: getting gas on a small country road. 

In nearly every case, my mind jumped from the facts of the events to the people involved. I wondered how they had survived and what it was like now, in the aftermath. So when I was running errands and listening to breaking news about a mass shooting at a Boulder grocery store, what stuck with me were the interviews with the bystanders – the people who had witnessed the shooting but remained unharmed. I thought, what remains of a person after experiencing that kind of trauma?

And there it was – the concept and the title for the book. I grabbed hold of this thought, this feeling, and began to develop the first character. One person who would represent the emotions I wanted to capture. I decided to build on her experience by making her a part of it – a cop who takes out the shooter and then wonders if she needed to. I researched trauma recovery, adding the complex layers of guilt and uncertainty from having taken one life to save others. Cold case detective Elise Sutton was suddenly on the page.

It was time to get that strong coffee and steadfast determination! With the framework for the story and the main character at hand, I sat down to develop the plot and write an outline. I’ve written before about the confines of genre and how they’ve been falling away, but I love writing psychological thrillers so I knew what I had to do. Building a story toward a great twist or reveal is not only deeply rewarding, it’s fun! For me, it’s the best part of writing a first draft. 

First, I gave Elise a nemesis. Another witness to the shooting who was also traumatized, but reacts by seeking a connection with the cop who saved his life, eventually tormenting her to get it. This man has also accessed her online postings to a class she taught on criminal forensics, filling his head with knowledge – the same knowledge she has. A cat and mouse game was then in order, Elise desperate to outsmart and catch this man before he can wreak havoc on her life – and the people she loves the most. Her children, husband and partner. Ah – so now there’s a partner! Another great character to dive into. A young man scarred from his time in the marines, fighting his own internal battles as he tries to help Elise. The theme of loyalty was suddenly in the mix, and I could find ways to test it. 

But what about that big twist? What hasn’t been done so many times the reader will see it coming? More coffee. More determination. Finally, an idea – a second narration that at first seems unrelated to the main story but then slowly starts to track. A red jacket. Strange markings on a dirt road. Small things to drop in here and there, appearing in both narrations. The real connection showing itself only at the very end.

And there is was! The entire book. Of course, having the story concept, characters and plot outline is just the beginning. Chapter by chapter, a draft gets written. And then it gets read and revised. Once, twice, sometimes multiple times. With What Remains, there was concern about the shooting – on the one hand, it’s become a regular occurrence in our country. On the other hand – do readers want to be reminded of this? I wrote a draft that removed this element, but it fell flat. The guts of the story are not about the shooting, but the impact of the trauma on my characters. And that impact was just not believable without the initial premise. The end result was a story that does not focus on the event, but lays it down as a road, upon which the emotional journey that was the genesis of the story can freely travel.

When I got the first endorsement for the novel, I was thrilled, but also surprised to read that the novel rotates through assorted genres (cop drama, psychological suspense, stalker scares — each meticulously evoked and arranged). (AJ Finn, #1 bestselling author of The Woman in the Window). I had not intended to drift into these sub-genres under the thriller umbrella. I just wrote the story the way it needed to be written. I suppose this is another mysterious part of the writing process. Whatever plans we may have, they always give way to the story and characters. 

In the coming year, three more novels and audiobooks will be released, each one having begun the same way. American Girl from the iconic Tom Petty song of the same name, Mad Love from my work as a divorce attorney, and Kill Me Softly from the recent surge of true crime serial murders. But don’t ask me what will come next. As always, that’s still a mystery!

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Wendy Walker is the author of the psychological suspense novels All Is Not Forgotten, Emma In The Night, The Night Before, Don’t Look For Me and American Girl. Her novels have been translated into 23 foreign languages, topped bestseller lists both nationally and abroad and have been optioned for television and film. Prior to her writing career, Wendy practiced both corporate and family law, having earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and her undergraduate degree from Brown University. Wendy also worked as a financial analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Her latest novel, What Remains, is out now.

Find out more about Wendy on her website https://www.wendywalkerbooks.com/

Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/Wendy_Walker

WHAT REMAINS

“Absolutely splendid storytelling, a book to entertain, to immerse, and to challenge.” –A. J. Finn, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

She saved his life. Now he’ll never let her go.

Detective Elise Sutton is drawn to cold cases. Each crime is a puzzle to solve, pulled from the past. Elise looks for cracks in the surface and has become an expert on how murderers slip up and give themselves away. She has dedicated her life to creating a sense of order, at work with her ex-marine partner; at home with her husband and two young daughters; and within, battling her own demons. Elise has everything under control, until one afternoon, when she walks into a department store and is forced to make a terrible choice: to save one life, she will have to take another.

Elise is hailed as a hero, but she doesn’t feel like one. Steeped in guilt, and on a leave of absence from work, she’s numb, even to her husband and daughters, until she connects with Wade Austin, the tall man whose life she saved. But Elise soon realizes that he isn’t who he says he is. In fact, Wade Austin isn’t even his real name. The tall man is a ghost, one who will set off a terrifying game of cat and mouse, threatening Elise and the people she loves most.

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Category: On Writing