Susan Harris Howell, author of The Spirit of Vanderlaan, a Samantha Hayes mystery, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to share how her writing process has evolved.

Welcome, Susan. I’ll turn the floor over to you –

In a recent interview for a writer’s blog, the host asked if my writing process had evolved over time.

Goodness, yes, it’s evolved. And as much as I’d like to say my process is now state-of-the-art, the evolution continues.

When I first began writing articles for magazines and blogs, an idea would inspire me and I’d think about it for the longest before drafting it and editing it to a fare-thee-well. While my success rate was high for getting those articles published, I remember being glad that it wasn’t my “day job” because the process took forever.

And when I began writing The Spirit of Vanderlaan, much of it was the same. An idea came to me and after an eternity of planning and writing on weekends and summer breaks, it came out in print.

I was a novelist!

I was tired. But I was a novelist.

Then when I began writing Vanderlaan’s sequel, The Hayes Spirit, I quickly realized my process needed refining. Of course, I was nearing retirement from college teaching and would have more time to write; that alone promised a speedier process for the second book in the Samantha Hayes series.

But I had also learned a great deal while writing the first novel that made me rethink my process for the second. When I wrote Vanderlaan I had no idea how to write fiction and was flying by the seat of my pants. In fact, the writing community often uses the word “pantser” to describe someone who writes with less planning – sometimes without an outline or even knowing how the story will unfold and conclude.

And with Vanderlaan, I was the epitome of a pantser. At the outset, I only knew that my story would center on a psychology professor and a core group of students who lived in rooms the professor had lived in herself as a student. The characters would be intrigued by this coincidence and…

And… that’s as far as I got.

Beyond that I didn’t have a clue. I didn’t have a plot in mind so of course I didn’t know how this story would unfold, much less end!

But undeterred, I sat down one day and began writing a scene based on an activity I often used on the first day of class to break the ice. Then I wrote another chapter to fill out some of the characters, and another based on some amusing interactions I’d had with my students. I was enjoying myself and the chapters were good. I just didn’t know where they were going.

At some point, however, I found a wealth of information in books, conferences, and critique partners. I learned about pacing, plot structure, and character arcs that helped me create a story from those fun chapters that were piling up. Of course, I still didn’t know how the story would end, as I was indeed “making it up as I went along.”

I’ve since learned that this is often the way pantsers work and is a preferred style for many. Nonetheless, I wondered if being more of a planner might have its advantages.

I decided to give it a try. So using everything I’d learned in book one about plotting and character development, I outlined the sequel from start to finish.

I can already see that I like this method better. (For those of you who know I’m a planner in every other area of my life, this will come as no surprise.)

Now, as I’m writing, I know the journey and obstacles that Samantha and her entourage of students will encounter in The Hayes Spirit. And although it might change, I have an ending in mind. I’m confident that the plot is solid. I always know what scene to write next. And I’ll not be searching for an ending in the eleventh hour.

So in answer to that interviewer’s question: yes, my writing process has evolved. I began with a limited skillset that expanded as I learned more about the craft. I then modified it according to my own personal preferences. I also look forward to all I will learn in the future. I guess you could say that while Samantha’s character arc is growing and evolving, so is Susan’s. We’re both learning as we go.

Thank you for sharing this with us, Susan, and good luck with The Spirit of Vanderlaan, the first book in the Samantha Hayes mystery series. Readers can learn more about Susan Harris Howell by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Bookbub, Instagram and Goodreads pages.

The book is available online at the following retailers:

Amazon   B&N

About Susan Harris Howell: Susan is a psychologist, speaker, and author of The Spirit of Vanderlaan, her debut novel released in December of 2024. The book is a fun, cozy, ghost story featuring a professor, Samantha Hayes, and her lively band of students who get caught up in solving a campus mystery. This book draws on her teaching career of over thirty years to capture the camaraderie and warmth between a professor and the assortment of personalities which inhabit her office.

She has also published extensively on equality between women and men. Her first book, Buried Talents, explores the subtle ways women are discouraged from entering male-dominated occupations. Buried Talents was named a winner in InterVarsity Press’s 2022 Readers’ Choice Awards.

She and her husband have two grown children, a daughter-in-law, one adorable grandson, and an incorrigible beagle named Doc. While Doc doesn’t understand a word she says, he fully supports her speaking and writing endeavors.