It’s been a busy, busy weekend.
Yesterday I ended up having to recuperate after a late night watching Fellowship of the Rings on Blu Ray Saturday night. It was lots of fun, but by the end of it we were all wiped. So yeah, no writing done yesterday, but I did have a kind of “eureka” writing moment last week.
I’d reached a mental block about my original novel (Suzie’s Nightmare) in how to rewrite the first chapter. Then I found an interesting idea that got me inspired to figure out how to do it. One day, when I’m a famous author (haha, I know, get the laughter aside now…), I loved the thought that the biggest challenge I would have to deal with every day would be problems that characters would have in my books. That’s it. The hardest, most stressful problem I would likely be plagued with on a daily basis.
Sure, there are definitely things associated with that problem that could make it even more stressful. I’m sure when J.K. Rowling was trying to write her final book, she had quite a bit of stress regarding the characters and the storyline. But for me, compared to the daily trials and tribulations of work, such a problem seems far better to deal with. Fictional characters in a world entirely controlled by me. Then I realized, that the mental block I’d come to regarding my first chapter was exactly that problem.
That was the thing I was truly stressing over, the step that was preventing me from being able to re-write that section for my first readers. This was the ultimate problem I was saying would be wonderful to be my only daily stress – so why was I holding myself back? Why was I preventing myself from moving forward with a novel I certainly want to see in paperback one day?
So with that mindset, I found the courage to brainstorm this scene which I had mentally “set in stone” before, and was able to see a new scene for it. A new environment. Even adding a few characters that will need to be weaved into the plot for the entire book. But I felt that adding them will add a new level of intrigue for the book, and add another subplot/foil for my heroine Suzie.
Once I was able to get past my initial fear of changing it around, I was able to move forward mentally. Last week I sketched out outlines for several new characters that will need to be introduced, but will also be quite useful in the following books as well. Including the 2nd book which I’m working on at the moment. Once I get my Lucius Big Bang out of the way, I’ll write my quick Zombie Bang piece, and then leap back into Book 2 of my series. Maybe I’ll take a few minutes to re-write Chapter 1 of my first book as well. But I’ll certainly have a lot more confidence this time.
After all, they’re all my characters, and I can do whatever I want with them. Isn’t writing wonderful?