I may struggle with plot. But I feel I do well in characterization. So I was surprised when in the first book was finished and sent to my line editors. (hi girls) That I was having a hard time pegging the two main characters in the second book. The first book has a dark and conflicted assassin and his energetic and sometimes quirky wife.
Then as I began to write the second book I began to struggle with the characters and plot seeming boring. As I talked with my friend she suggested that perhaps I was trying to write the MC as the calm and self assured character at the end of the series when I still needed the raw dark and conflicted MC. (Just a bit older and no longer an assassin) She was so right and as I pondered the problem this morning I had some very good ideas as to how to handle the MC and make it work.
I should know this by now; however some times I am a slow learner. When I get stuck, or a block threatens to derail me. I need to remember that in the past it was a symptom that something isn't right in the book. Hopefully if I realize it a few more times I'll remember it.
3 comments:
Isn't it funny how we feel our stories so deeply in our guts, and they can make us sick when they aren't working and make us so happy when they do?
OH YES! when I decided to go back and rewrite the first book I was literally sick to my stomach. I couldn't comprehend changing EVERYTHING about the story. I talked to a ton of people and did a lot of thinking. When I actually sat down to write it it flowed out of me like water. I'm glad I did it but the pain and sickness was awful.
When something goes wrong in a story I do feel a real unease. It bugs me for a long time. The relief when I fix something is tremendous. When something goes right it is quite a "high" feeling. I am definitely deeply involved in my stories.
When I feel like my characters are acting too nice (even my main protagonists) I have them say something naughty or witty; never fails to spark the story some.
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