In honor of the Boston Marathon, in today's blog, I will discuss the creative process that often takes place during long runs. A runner's high can also be runner's write.
I mentally outlined my third novel, Volcano Verdict, during a forty minute run during a visit to see relatives in Connecticut. It was Thanksgiving, but surprisingly warm, so all of us went out to a park by the beach. I started running slowly and let my thoughts race. I had chugged a Red Bull prior to the run, and that bull was rushing through china shop of my mind. Bad idea after bad idea fell down and shattered. The few ideas left standing were literally the keepers.
The ideas were the dormant volcano west of Albuquerque on the fourth of July, a lawyer busted for drugs who died mysteriously of asphyxiation when he got out, a legal secretary with a million dollars in her purse Juarez pharmacies and a bi-polar Korean woman. Oh, and the bad guy would be the father of the main character.
By the end of the forty minutes, those wild ideas coalesced into a narrative that worked. I had all three acts outlined in my head. In another long run, I added some more details.
In case you're wondering-- disgraced lawyer dies on top of the volcano during the fourth of July. His secretary is the suspect. She has to take down the Juarez mob, but finds that it is harder to do than she thinks because her father has some connection.
Then, I was ready to start writing it down. Because of that forty run, I was able to write a 60,000 word manuscript in less than thirty days.
Just think what some people will be able to write after a marathon.
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