Thanks and Possible Breakthrough
First
off, I want to thank everyone for their birthday wishes yesterday!
I had a great day and we went out for Japanese for dinner for something different that the kids and I’d never had before: Shabu Shabu, which is named for the “swish” sound the meat makes when you drag it through the boiling water.
So what’s this have to do with a breakthrough? Not much, really. Except that I’ve been looking at this story as a single big chunk of meat plopped down on the counter. Wrong. It needs to be sliced thinly to bring out the marbling, the texture and flavor. It needs a variety of veggies on the side to season it. And most importantly, it needs that pot of boiling water to steep in, to meld everything together into something tasty and new.
Dare I hope that by forcing myself to face this story head-on this week (see boiling pot reference), I’ve managed to push through past the stale synopsis on Wikipedia to something interesting, fun, and that will qualify as a romance (see the something tasty and new reference)?
What I realized is that everything I’ve done so far has been solely for my benefit. The majority of what I’ve cluttered up my brain, blog and hard drive with regarding this story so far will never see the page in the final story. I don’t consider it wasted time at all because I had to know it and work through it to find the story that was hiding underneath.
Unfortunately, what I did realize is that I’ve mostly abandoned the approach I was trying to take. I still think it’s very puzzle-like in trying to determine what goes where, what A means for B, and why C has to happen before D can. But thinking about the “layout” and who and what need to populate the story have been pushed aside in my quest to find the story I want to write itself.
Now that I have an overview of what I want to do (and it might not look like it contains all the same plot points as before, but they’re still bouncing around my head and woven in and around what is there. The original folktale seems to be mostly backstory and supporting details for the hero’s storyline, but the heroine is taking over the show and what the story is about has changed because of the decisions I’ve forced the characters to make and the histories I’ve given them.
So, back to swishing these poor characters around. Mmm… it’s starting to look like soup… I mean a story! What do you think?
Alexander can’t help helping others and when he learns a woman has been kidnapped from the old gypsy woman he rescued from a ditch, things start to go wrong. He finds the woman, but Anthea refuses to leave before she can recover the key to her father’s breeding program that was stolen by her “captives”. Meanwhile, the matriarch plans to force Anthea into marriage with her eldest son because of her own impeccable bloodline. Eventually, Alex figures out that he needs a little outside help in order to help solve Anthea’s problems and that he likes her as she is. Alex and Anthea manage to escape with the key but the family pursues them. Will society’s notions of propriety trap her forever or will true love free her to be her self.
Oh, and you can expect to hear a lot more about a couple of my presents in the future: DH got me Robert McKee’s Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting
As always, I’m impressed with how you take real life and shuffle it into your writing process.
Blogjack alert: I had one of those moments we were talking about awhile ago (that I blogged about too) – Writing Serendipity.
For some reason, months ago, Brennid gave Faela his dagger and asked her to always carry it. Yeah, I was like “Why is he giving a 15 year old spoiled princess a dagger?” But it’s his book, so I didn’t argue.
Flash forward to last night – I had to delete or move the last 140 pages to book two. The bad guy has Faela and no one can do anything. oh no!
BUT WAIT – I just remembered. Faela has a dagger (that sounds like a duh in two paragraphs, but over 1 year, it was a big ah-ha) – no idea why i’m telling your blog this, but I thought of you when it happened 🙂
Hehe. That’s awesome Bria. Just call it FORESHADOWING and run with it. We won’t ask what Freud would say. 😉
I think the tying everything together is just a sign of how cluttered my mind is with everything. =) Lots of stuff running in the background and not necessarily the right stuff percolating up to the top when I need it to. Goes with that whole “mind like a sieve” idea. Lots of stuff filters through, not much recognizable sticks, until I just happen to hit the right button and poof! Instant linkage, which might not come from where you expected. 🙂
Kaige, it sounds to me like you’ve got all the ingredients for a very filling story. And it sounds like you’re starting to come up with the right recipe for putting it all together.
*hugs*
Sometimes things just happen. Usually when forcing them doesn’t work. LOL Glad you had a breakthrough.
nice soup–for a second I thought I was reading one of my favorite food blogs. Just write.
Sometimes, it helps to just write. You can think about it later. For now–just do the bic. Butt in chair. 🙂
Happy belated birthday! My latest book has just undergone a similar exercise. I can usually just let the characters talk to get a story in place, but my new heroine is a different kind of character, she must be teased, taunted and cajoled to speak.
I like soup. Just sayin’.
And I’m so glad you had a good birthday.
lol–gimme three million-gazillions dollars (that’s a jodi’s just sayin’) lol. I’ll settle for a chair if you don’t have small bills. Green resin. I’m tired of sitting on Mama’s floor.
Runs off to the Monopoly site to print up some cash. Huh.. the judge for the Cub Scout Scavenger hunt didn’t like it either. =P
There’s all sorts of chairs here, Jodi. Lots of bean bags, big comfy lay-z-boy recliners, the patio chairs need new cushions and repainted though. I’d never make you sit on the cold, hard concrete.
Story was great and I spent the rest of the day taking what I’ve got and laying it out so I can run with it the first chance I get. But, yes ma’am, I hear ya. Doesn’t exist/can’t fix it if it’s not on a page. Good thing it’s spring break here this coming week!
Eek. Happy belated birthday! 🙂 That Shabu-shabu looks great. There’s a bunch of those buffets around here in Korea and my mom makes it occasionally, but somehow, it just tastes better when you’re out at the restaurant.
Happy belated bday!
I LOVE Shabu Shabu! Now I want Japanese food.
Glad you changed your tires in time. Eeek!