Jeanne Moon Farmer

My journey into writing began when my third-grade teacher asked, “what do you want to do when you grow up?” and my answer was to write a book. My love of words, reading, and storytelling was the inspiration that led me to several careers – teacher, magazine editor, grant writer – before I sat down to write my first novel.

Being an English major at Florida State University in the 1960’s was exciting. I was fortunate to have two fantastic writers as professors: Dr. James Cox, an O’Henry Short Story award winner and Pulitzer Prize winning author, Michael Shaara. These men wrote in different genre and style, and each one opened my eyes to different facets of creative writing. They used varying methodology to teach the process of writing. I remember turning in assignments to Dr. Cox and his notes on my work always included suggested authors for me to read. (i.e.“Your writing style is akin to this author. Read his/her work and see how he/she puts sentences together.”). Their methodology was not laborious. They made writing fun and that still influences me many years later.

Writing is a lonely sport that takes a team. As a member of the Authors Guild, Florida Writers Association, and critique groups, I have learned to be humble. Often there is a better way to say something, and other writers challenge me to find the best way. My growth as a writer is on-going because of their challenges, comments, and questions. No one tries to rewrite it for me, but other eyes and ears see and hear awkward words or sentences that need clarity or a new approach. Guest lecturers and writing workshops offered by these groups always have something to teach me.

First, my writing process requires my willingness to begin. I start with the germ of an idea that can only be developed by creating characters and putting words on a page. The story reveals itself and begins to flow when my characters become real. They write their story for me.

When I first started the serious work of writing a novel, I made outlines and story plots, but soon discovered they were a limiting factor for me. As my writing matured, I learned to make story notes around an idea, constantly asking myself questions like:
Who is this character and what do they want to accomplish in this story?
Is this action outside the scope of the story?
How would a character or characters behave in this situation?
How much does my reader need to know about this character?
Is this sentence, paragraph, or chapter necessary to tell the story?
Have I connected the actions in this story? What is the arc of this story?
Have I allowed the characters to reveal the story, or have I bogged it down with my words?
I have found that many of these questions come back to me from my editor.

One thing that has never changed for me is my need for quiet. In a quiet space I can hear my characters and I can visualize the action of a scene. When there are distractions, I often lose the rhythm and flow of what I’m writing.

Love and Lies is the first in a series of stories about a family in a small Florida town. In trying to answer the question, “Do we really know who a person is?” I introduce Callie McBride. Her family knows her as a loving wife, mother, and museum curator. They know what she wants them to know about her, but life takes a few turns that reveal another facet of her persona. As Callie’s double life is exposed, the family grapples with the depth of her secrets and must ask themselves if love justifies the lies.

The story within the story for this series of books is to explore and raise awareness of the crime of human trafficking and it will continue to be a theme in future books in this series. The McBride family will be drawn deeper into its darkness and more members of the family will become actively involved.

I’ve always heard that writers should write about what they know. Although I must do extensive research about the subject matter of a story, I know the setting very well. Florida is familiar to readers across the globe because of its beaches, attractions, and climate. The setting lends itself well to stories of all kinds, especially stories of crime.

Florida is a land of diversity. It’s a little bit Southern, a little bit Northern, and a little bit Hispanic which creates a cultural dichotomy that produces wonderful characters. The hectic pace of its many large cities is a direct contrast to life in the rural areas and small towns. The cultural divisions are often manifested because more and more people In Florida are from somewhere else. As I’ve often said, “There is a story behind every palm tree.”

Family values and the dynamics of family are threaded through all the novels. But the characters stand on their own. Callie McBride (Love and Lies) and Carter McDeal (Family Shadows series) may have similarities, but their personalities are distinct. While I don’t model my characters on people I know, they are an amalgamation of everyone I have met. When I visualize a character, I try to imagine who they might resemble and if I feel they are getting too close to someone in my life, I begin making changes. Carter McDeal has many of the characteristics of my own father; Callie McBride often reminds me of my grandmother.

Human trafficking will continue to thread the story, but relationships will change and grow. Members of the family will be more involved; there will be a wedding and a funeral. Callie will continue to be the central character, but other family members will have a chance to tell their stories.

Making sure the story is coherent and tight, allowing characters to grow while being true to who they are, and creating subplots that are aligned with the intent of the story are challenges that I have faced over the years of writing. It is essential to have Beta Readers who aren’t shy about pointing out any inconsistencies in these and other areas. With their help I can tighten the story and improve any character awkwardness before I send the manuscript to my editor.

Once this process is complete, the editor begins to fine tune the story. Then I’m challenged to revise and rewrite. For me, this is the hard part. In Love and Lies, my editor asked me to omit three chapters and incorporate the ideas from those chapters into the flow of the story. It’s hard to let go of that many words, but the editor knew best and with the rewrite the story flowed more smoothly.

As a writer, I have learned that falling in love with my own words is not in my best interest. However, my writing coach gave me a great piece of advice. He told me to create a recycle file for the words, sentences, and paragraphs that an editor wants eliminated from the story. It helped me not to grieve over the words that I had to cut. I don’t know if I’ve ever recycled anything from that file, but who knows, maybe someday….

I am an introvert and life observer. I have always been fascinated with how people relate to one another. As I create interaction between characters, I draw on my own experiences and what I’ve observed. I want my characters to be authentic and I asked my Beta Readers to look for displays of emotion, conversations, and reactions that appear out of character, false, overplayed, or underwhelmed.

I read my work aloud at the end of every writing session. I’m amazed at how different the words become when spoken. In my head, an interplay flows, but my ears hear awkward sentences that stifle conversations. It’s interesting when the inflection of my voice changes the meaning of what I’ve written. It tells me a rewrite is necessary. This is a practice that has served me well.

The process of writing Everything Makes A Difference is not typical of co-authoring. My writing partner and friend, Dr. Burt Bertram, is a clinical psychologist who was working on this PhD at the time. He was researching the impact of media on mental health counseling and as part of his research, he wrote and delivered two-minute vignettes on a local radio station. Each vignette captured a life lesson.

At the same time, I was doing graduate work on right brain/left brain learning. One day over lunch, I showed him a poem I had written after listening to one of his broadcasts and the idea was born to collaborate on a book. Everything Makes A Difference has his left brain message on the left hand page and my right brain restatement in poetry on the right. We worked independently, meeting weekly to compare what we had written.

Two other friends, Lola West and Mary Margaret Bowen, were asked to join the project as editor and illustrator. This little book was a team effort.

My novel writing is different in the fact I am not trying to match my words to those of someone else.

I don’t consider myself a romance writer, yet as I try to build suspense in a story, I realize the human element must be included. The interaction between characters in life and in my books often leads to a romantic attachment. The balance between romance and suspense is not a 50 – 50 deal in my story. It is more like 80 – 20, with suspense being the greater portion of the story.

When the idea for Family Shadows began to take shape, I wanted to tell a story about a quiet, unassuming young man who finds himself embroiled in a situation that could land him in prison for many years. As the cast of characters evolved, I realized the city of Miami was an important element of the story. Over three books, the Miami of the 1950’s changes and grows into the Miami of the 1980’s and the characters and action of the story follows that growth. The quiet city of 1950 became the ‘cocaine capitol’ in the 1980’s. The culture of the city helped me develop the characters of the story.

Shamrock Beach, my imagined small town on Florida’s east coast, is part of the story of Callie McBride and her family. The culture of a small, Southern town creates the atmosphere for lies to begin. Once again, the family saga and the story location are entangled.

In both series, I want to bring awareness to my readers. In Family Shadows, the problem was a city that turned a blind eye to the drug cartels that ruled it; in Shamrock Beach, the judgments of a small town intersect with a State where human trafficking flourishes. Interstate 95, running from the southern tip of Florida to the coast of Maine, is often referred to as the “Trafficking Road.”

I have tried not to make my characters resemble people I know. I’m sure they are an amalgamation of many people in my life. Instead of comparing my characters to friends or family, I ask myself, “who could play this character in a movie?”

One of my Beta Readers told me she hears my voice in at least one character in each book.

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Yes, AllAuthor is a website I will be using in the future.