Ask the Author: Arla Dahl
Answered Questions (5)
Arla Dahl
I am currently working on Book 3 in the Immoral Virtue Trilogy. The novella is titled, The Watchman, and it has been haunting me for nearly a year.
I am a sucker for wounded heroes. And he – The Watchman, Giles Scott – is one.
Before I sat down to plot The Watchman, I knew what pleasures and torments I would inflict on his character. I knew how Governor Jameson Foster would treat Giles while the two men were in the privacy of the governor’s chambers. I heard the sighs, I felt the fear and smelled the lust.
I was unsure, however, of Giles’ responses to all of that. His past, after all, was of a rather painful nature. I did not want to harm him further but, perhaps, help heal him instead.
Giles, as a quietly strong and powerfully protective sort, has been quite the challenge. Over these months, he has spoken to me, as characters often do... though his voice has been hushed, his secrets still so.
It has only been after some, well, deep probing, if you will, that I’ve managed to wrench bits of his past – and its effects – from him. It seems, despite his resistance, his secrets still ache to be heard.
I have listened, revising his tale as he begins to tell it. I suppose I have finally earned his trust, much as you will see the governor do.
I have felt both pleasure and awe as I breach this wounded man’s pride. And I have fallen in love with him in the process. My hope is others will fall in love with him, too.
I am a sucker for wounded heroes. And he – The Watchman, Giles Scott – is one.
Before I sat down to plot The Watchman, I knew what pleasures and torments I would inflict on his character. I knew how Governor Jameson Foster would treat Giles while the two men were in the privacy of the governor’s chambers. I heard the sighs, I felt the fear and smelled the lust.
I was unsure, however, of Giles’ responses to all of that. His past, after all, was of a rather painful nature. I did not want to harm him further but, perhaps, help heal him instead.
Giles, as a quietly strong and powerfully protective sort, has been quite the challenge. Over these months, he has spoken to me, as characters often do... though his voice has been hushed, his secrets still so.
It has only been after some, well, deep probing, if you will, that I’ve managed to wrench bits of his past – and its effects – from him. It seems, despite his resistance, his secrets still ache to be heard.
I have listened, revising his tale as he begins to tell it. I suppose I have finally earned his trust, much as you will see the governor do.
I have felt both pleasure and awe as I breach this wounded man’s pride. And I have fallen in love with him in the process. My hope is others will fall in love with him, too.
Arla Dahl
I'm not sure I'm ever uninspired. I might not always be as proficient as I'd like to be, but the desire to write is almost always there.
When my mind wanders, or when my muse resists, it's usually because I have a story glitch to fix, or maybe I hadn't given enough thought to an upcoming scene. Or a scene takes an unexpected turn...
That's when I have to walk away and think things through.
I'm not what many would call a "plotter". I'm not a pantser either. I do plan my stories, and I do lay out scene progressions, but not in detail. That limited bit of planning works for me. Uncovering certain details as I write is the best part of the work.
When the details I uncover threaten to take the story in a different direction, the pantser part of me is always eager to explore that new option. The plotter in me resists, aware there was a plan to follow - loose though it might have been.
This is the tough part of the job. Do you follow this new lead or stick with the plan? Which will make for a stronger, more satisfying story?
I suppose the inspiration to write comes with the answer to those questions. Because when the answer is there - just beyond that fog of words yet unwritten - the inspiration to write is at its peak and impossible to resist.
When my mind wanders, or when my muse resists, it's usually because I have a story glitch to fix, or maybe I hadn't given enough thought to an upcoming scene. Or a scene takes an unexpected turn...
That's when I have to walk away and think things through.
I'm not what many would call a "plotter". I'm not a pantser either. I do plan my stories, and I do lay out scene progressions, but not in detail. That limited bit of planning works for me. Uncovering certain details as I write is the best part of the work.
When the details I uncover threaten to take the story in a different direction, the pantser part of me is always eager to explore that new option. The plotter in me resists, aware there was a plan to follow - loose though it might have been.
This is the tough part of the job. Do you follow this new lead or stick with the plan? Which will make for a stronger, more satisfying story?
I suppose the inspiration to write comes with the answer to those questions. Because when the answer is there - just beyond that fog of words yet unwritten - the inspiration to write is at its peak and impossible to resist.
Arla Dahl
Like most people, I’d read about the Salem Witch Trials when I was in middle school. The horrors the accused endured affected me deeply then and, years later, during a trip to Colonial Williamsburg, I attended a witch trial reenactment. I, like all the members of the audience, were to take part in the trial. We were the jury. We were instructed as to the beliefs and laws of the place and time period – a Puritan village in Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1692 – and then we heard the testimony of the prisoner’s accusers. Throughout the entire process, I shook my head, saying there was nothing any of them could say that would have convinced me she was guilty of witchcraft. And then they brought in the accused - a woman in rags, crying, furious and terrified, pleading with us and the court for mercy. So desperate was she to have her innocence declared that she could not complete a sentence without sputtering – including a sentence within a prayer she had been ordered to recite. The judge cut her off after her second failed attempt, and once she had been dragged from the courthouse, we, the jury, were asked whether she was guilty or innocent.
According to the law and beliefs of the times, I had no choice but to declare her guilty, thus sending this fictitious character to the gallows.
If I had lived during that dark time and had tried to defend her despite the beliefs and laws, I would have been viewed with suspicion. My friends would have turned on me out of fear, the way they had turned on this woman who would now, if she were real, be put to death for a crime we all know now she did not, could not, commit.
In writing this book, it was my hope to take that disturbing period of history and turn it around. I wanted to give the accused some control over what happened to them and so I focused on one aspect of the pre-trial examinations – the sexual humiliation and torture of the accused. The physical search for the mark of the beast and sexual torture the women endured was a way to strip them of their sexuality, their humanity. To punish them for having had sex with a beast – which was, at the least, a most unnatural joining.
In this story, the examiner is not one who rips away female sexuality but rather, awakens it. While the ordeal I created is humbling, shaming and frightening, in the end, I wanted to return to the victims a sense of wholeness and normalcy by allowing them to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh, to make them fully aware of that passion within them and to give them a chance to embrace, appreciate, and use its power.
(This answer in its entirety is on my blog with other posts, detailed,posts about the this dark time in history. You can find them here: www.arladahl.com/notes)
According to the law and beliefs of the times, I had no choice but to declare her guilty, thus sending this fictitious character to the gallows.
If I had lived during that dark time and had tried to defend her despite the beliefs and laws, I would have been viewed with suspicion. My friends would have turned on me out of fear, the way they had turned on this woman who would now, if she were real, be put to death for a crime we all know now she did not, could not, commit.
In writing this book, it was my hope to take that disturbing period of history and turn it around. I wanted to give the accused some control over what happened to them and so I focused on one aspect of the pre-trial examinations – the sexual humiliation and torture of the accused. The physical search for the mark of the beast and sexual torture the women endured was a way to strip them of their sexuality, their humanity. To punish them for having had sex with a beast – which was, at the least, a most unnatural joining.
In this story, the examiner is not one who rips away female sexuality but rather, awakens it. While the ordeal I created is humbling, shaming and frightening, in the end, I wanted to return to the victims a sense of wholeness and normalcy by allowing them to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh, to make them fully aware of that passion within them and to give them a chance to embrace, appreciate, and use its power.
(This answer in its entirety is on my blog with other posts, detailed,posts about the this dark time in history. You can find them here: www.arladahl.com/notes)
Arla Dahl
I would say the best thing about being a writer is the opportunity to play with a vague thought and expand it into a story that's layered with atmosphere, suspense and emotion.
There are stories hidden everywhere. Sometimes, a blip of an overheard conversation will project an entire scene in the writer's mind. In my case, it could have nothing to do with anything I'm aware of yet still intrigue me enough to follow it. And so, being a writer allows me to dig deeper, to ask questions, play the 'what if' game and follow where the path each "what-if answer" leads. Sometimes it leads straight to a dead end. Sometimes it veers out of control. Other times, it takes me along a path of discovery that surprises even my muse.
That's how it was for me with my Immoral Virtue Trilogy.
I'd always been fascinated by the witch hysteria of the 1600's. I'd always felt there was more to the story, more that we either did not yet know or chose not to discuss.
As I considered the period, I thought about a variety of "what if's" with one standing out among the rest:
What if instead of the examiners trying to prove guilt through pain, they sought to prove innocence through pleasure?
And so the Immoral Virtue Trilogy began. It's been such an amazing ride that, yes, I would say the best part of being a writer is taking an idea and shaping it into something completely unexpected.
There are stories hidden everywhere. Sometimes, a blip of an overheard conversation will project an entire scene in the writer's mind. In my case, it could have nothing to do with anything I'm aware of yet still intrigue me enough to follow it. And so, being a writer allows me to dig deeper, to ask questions, play the 'what if' game and follow where the path each "what-if answer" leads. Sometimes it leads straight to a dead end. Sometimes it veers out of control. Other times, it takes me along a path of discovery that surprises even my muse.
That's how it was for me with my Immoral Virtue Trilogy.
I'd always been fascinated by the witch hysteria of the 1600's. I'd always felt there was more to the story, more that we either did not yet know or chose not to discuss.
As I considered the period, I thought about a variety of "what if's" with one standing out among the rest:
What if instead of the examiners trying to prove guilt through pain, they sought to prove innocence through pleasure?
And so the Immoral Virtue Trilogy began. It's been such an amazing ride that, yes, I would say the best part of being a writer is taking an idea and shaping it into something completely unexpected.
Arla Dahl
For me, writer's block is a very real thing with varying degrees of severity.
There are times when 10-15 minutes of 'free-writing' frees the muse enough for me to get back into the story. Other times, I have to step away from the computer completely then pick up a pen and notepad to jot thoughts I have for the scene I'm struggling to write. That is truly free writing because it removed the pressure of that blinking cursor.
When I free-write, I usually write about where the last scene left off, how the characters felt at that point, what they need to do next, how the setting will feel, what will be the emotions they need to experience... I won't spend too much time on any one thought. It's just jotting, nothing solid until the muse becomes engaged. I'm always amazed at how well this works.
But when it doesn't...
I exercise. Trust me, it's a last resort. I could tell you I nosh and drink tons of coffee (which I do), but that's more a way to procrastinate than to overcome writer's block.
Still, I have a compact treadmill in my living room and when I am truly stuck and cannot work through a scene, I'll get on the treadmill and just start walking. I'll think about how I brought the story to the point where I'm stuck, trying to feel the emotions of the scenes. As I think more about it, I pick up more speed on the treadmill and it clears my mind. I don't know how it works but it does. Sometimes I'll come away with only one sentence, a transition, but that might be all I need to get going again. Sometimes, an error in a previous scene suddenly becomes clear. And sometimes the answer becomes so clear I wonder why I was stuck in the first place. I'm not sure how running does that for me, but it does, so I do.
There are times when 10-15 minutes of 'free-writing' frees the muse enough for me to get back into the story. Other times, I have to step away from the computer completely then pick up a pen and notepad to jot thoughts I have for the scene I'm struggling to write. That is truly free writing because it removed the pressure of that blinking cursor.
When I free-write, I usually write about where the last scene left off, how the characters felt at that point, what they need to do next, how the setting will feel, what will be the emotions they need to experience... I won't spend too much time on any one thought. It's just jotting, nothing solid until the muse becomes engaged. I'm always amazed at how well this works.
But when it doesn't...
I exercise. Trust me, it's a last resort. I could tell you I nosh and drink tons of coffee (which I do), but that's more a way to procrastinate than to overcome writer's block.
Still, I have a compact treadmill in my living room and when I am truly stuck and cannot work through a scene, I'll get on the treadmill and just start walking. I'll think about how I brought the story to the point where I'm stuck, trying to feel the emotions of the scenes. As I think more about it, I pick up more speed on the treadmill and it clears my mind. I don't know how it works but it does. Sometimes I'll come away with only one sentence, a transition, but that might be all I need to get going again. Sometimes, an error in a previous scene suddenly becomes clear. And sometimes the answer becomes so clear I wonder why I was stuck in the first place. I'm not sure how running does that for me, but it does, so I do.
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