Peter Darbyshire on plotting, passion, and a writer's voice

Peter Darbyshire’s debut novel, Please, won the KM Hunter Award for Best Emerging Artist and Canada’s ReLit Award for Best Novel. His books The Warhol Gang and Has the World Ended Yet? received critical acclaim. He also writes the popular Cross series of supernatural thrillers – The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, The Dead Hamlets, and The Apocalypse Ark. The next book in the series, The Wonder Lands War, will be published in October, 2025. He lives in a safe house near Vancouver, B.C. Peter Darbyshire on plotting, passion, and a writer's voice, advice to writers, and the pursuit of the twisted and unpredictable!

Author Peter Darbyshire

Peter Darbyshire on plotting, passion, and a writer's voice

OCW: Are you a plotter or a pantser?

PD: I used to be a pantser when I first began publishing, but over the years I’ve increasingly become a plotter. When you’re writing more complex stories, with different layers and secondary stories and so on, it’s easy to write yourself into a labyrinth with no exit if you don’t have some sort of outline. My writing history is littered with the bones of such projects.

I’ve become more attuned to emotional storylines as well, so it’s not just about plot for me. I need a deeper structure to know where to direct the emotional beats and where to turn up the action. I need to map out the heart of the story, if you will, otherwise I end up with characters emotionally adrift. We have enough people like that in the world.

The Wonderlands of War, by Peter Darbyshire

Also, most of my works these days are parts of series, such as my Cross series of supernatural thrillers, so it’s necessary to have the structure figured out to some extent and how a given project fits into my fictional universe. 

Crafting the story: From chaos to a mapped-out world

I’m careful not to plot things out too much, though. If you map out every single thing, you’re leaving no room for your imagination to work or for the soul of the work to emerge from the pages. Leave some room for wonder.

I’ve done a number of workshops with my writing group over the years focusing on different models of plotting, such as Save the Cat, the hero’s journey, the heroine’s journey, and so on. I’ve found them all surprisingly useful — not as rules to live by but as things to consider and incorporate into my own style where it fits. 

That said, I totally pantsed this answer to the question.

OCW: Do you edit as you write, or write and edit later?

PD: I try to make it as far as I can into a draft before I start editing. There’s a certain momentum to these things, a kind of creative fervour. If you stop and go or restart too many times, that passion can burn out and your vision for the project will fade away. It’s easy to abandon something because you haven’t finished it and feel stuck — especially when there are exciting new projects beckoning from the wings. 

Once you have a first draft of something, however, you’ve done it. You have a story or book or poem or play or whatever. There’s a huge sense of accomplishment that comes with that, no matter how dire the state of the work. And with that comes a sense of creative renewal. You’re no longer wrestling with the work to finish it. It’s done. It’s alive! Now you want to make it better, which is a totally different kind of creative act and, I think, fires up different parts of your mind and soul. 

So for me I write as far as I can go into a project before it completely falls apart and I don’t know where it’s going. Sometimes that’s a few chapters at a time, sometimes that’s half a book or even a full book. The result of that is usually an unpublishable mess. But I generally figure out what I need to be writing in the second draft by pushing forward like that. Also, I’m less likely to get trapped in a dead end because I’ve been polishing some story angle for months only to realize too late that it doesn’t work and it’s killed all my enthusiasm for the book. 

Writing is like life. Sometimes it’s better to push into the unknown than try to pursue some elusive perfection with what you have.

Finding the fantastic: The pursuit of the twisted and unpredictable

OCW: Can you trace any common themes across your writing?

PD: I’ve written urban dark comedy (Please), the demented headlines of tomorrow (The Warhol Gang), tales of the apocalypse (Has the World Ended Yet?) and supernatural thrillers (The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, The Dead Hamlets, The Apocalypse Ark, The Wonder Lands War), so I’m not sure that I’m a writer with a specific theme set. Although I suppose you could say I view the world as a dark and absurd place, occasionally interrupted by people futilely trying to make a difference.

I think the one common element to my writing is I really seek to create something new and twisted each time. I aim for the unpredictable and fantastic while defying genre categorizations. One of the reviews that I’m most proud of referred to my book as “unhinged.” That’s basically my goal with everything I write. 

The creative spark: A survival guide for writers

OCW: What advice/guidance would you give to writers?

PB: Always remember that your voice matters. It’s easy to get discouraged with the business of publishing because it is a business. It’s trend driven to the point of madness, lots of things happen that don’t make any sense, and it’s more random than the lottery. If you focus on the business side, you will quickly lose the passion that drove you to write in the first place.

But we need more writers like you, with your unique viewpoint, especially in these troubling times. Every writer has their own gift to offer the world, no matter how few or how many people read it. The world would be a poorer place without your words in it. The world needs you.

OCW: Do you use social media to engage readers, writers, or publishers and, if so, which platforms?

PB: I’m on the usual social media platforms at @peterdarbyshire in most cases. I don’t really use social media as an engagement tool. That just feels too transactional and soulless. I view it as a community hub where I can follow or join the conversations that are taking place, particularly those focused on creativity and making the world a better place. I tend to avoid negative topics even though I recognize most social media platforms are outrage machines that reward rage and controversy. There’s already enough of that in the world and approaching social media from an engagement or gotcha approach just debases everyone involved. Be the creative spark that lights up the world for you and others.