No, I’m not in Australia (I wish! It’s summer there!) But I’m down under the weight of a deadline. In fact, I’m writing this on Sunday right before I go off to rework parts of the 40,000 words I do have written.
Last night I was tweaking and editing PLAYING DEAD. No, it’s not done. Yes, it’s due really soon. No, I don’t know what’s going to happen. Yes, I realize this is really cutting it close.
I’ve found that when I keep going back to edit it’s because something is wrong with the story. I’ve been pushing my characters in the wrong direction. Last week, it was my hero and heroine–I kept expecting a certain big revelation to come out at a specific time, but then I realized that it wasn’t the right time. Once I accepted that, I was back into the story letting the characters dictate.
Late last night, I figured out why I couldn’t move forward. It’s a huge change only in that I had always thought that the midpoint would have this specific revelation. This plot twist was actually something I thought of way before I knew much else about the story. So it was so grounded in my mind that I couldn’t deviate.
Now, I’ve freed those shackles. I don’t have to do much, except that it is a major over-arching story change. It changes the villain focus–takes it to a much, much higher level.
So I have to write. I’ll try to check in once or twice today, but . . . well, it might be late 🙂
In the meantime, please share a time when you had a major story revelation that changed your focus. What did you do about it?
And if you’re interested, Monica McCarty interviews me today over at the Fog City Divas on KILLING FEAR. Yep, it’s out and on the shelves! Yeah!
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