The Use of the Journal in Writing The Private Eye Novel

The most valuable tool I employ in the writing of a private eye novel is the working journal. This notebook (usually four times longer than the novel itself) is like a letter to myself, detailing every idea that occurs to me as I proceed. The journal is a record of my imagination at work, from the first spark of inspiration to the final manuscript.

       One of my theories is about writing is that the process involves an ongoing exchange between the Left Brain and Right. The journal involves a testing ground where the two can exchange. Left brain is analytical, linear, the timekeeper, the bean counter, the critic and editor, a valuable ally in the shaping of the mystery novel or any piece of writing for that matter. Right brain is creative, spatial, playful, disorganized, dazzling, nonlinear, the source of the Aha! or imaginative leap. Without Right Brain, there would be no material for the Left Brain to refine. Without Left Brain, the jumbled brilliance of Right Brain would never coalesce into a satisfactory whole.

       In addition to the yin/yang of the bicameral brain, the process of writing is a constant struggle between the Ego and the Shadow, to borrow Jungian terms. Ego, as implied, is the public aspect of our personality, the carefully constructed persona, or mask, we present to the world as the “truth” about us. The Shadow is our Unconscious, the Dark Side – the dangerous, largely unacknowledged cauldron of “unacceptable” feelings and reactions that we’d prefer not to look at in ourselves and certainly hope to keep hidden from others. We spend the bulk of our lives perfecting our public image, trying to deny our eradicate the perceived evil in our nature.

       For the writer, however -- especially the mystery writer -- the Shadow is crucial. The Shadow gives us access to our repressed rage, the murderous impulses that propel antisocial behavior whether we’re inclined to act out or not. As repelled as we may be by the Dark Side of our nature, we’re drawn to its power, recognizing that the Shadow contains enormous energy if we can tap into it. The journal is the writer’s invitation to the Shadow, a means of beckoning to the Unconscious, enticing it to yield its potent magic to the creative process.

    - Sue Grafton, author (of the alphabet detective series “A” Is for Alibi, “B” Is for Burglar, etc.), “The Use of the Journal in Writing The Private Eye Novel,” from the book by Diana M. Raab, Writers and Their Notebooks.