Yesterday, I shared some sage writing advice posted by Writing & Editing (@WrtrStat) on Twitter. This was before I’d sat down and started writing for the day.
It was a good writing day. I started at just over 8,000 words. I was writing along at a good pace. The story was flowing and everyone was happy. I looked up and I’d somehow flowed right past 10,000 words.
A while later, Mary Cardelia almost experienced her first kiss. It was a beautiful scene. It would have left a lasting memory had he kissed her then. But, her brother came along and spoiled the whole thing.
The evening progresses from there and then we come around to morning. By morning, Mary is pissy. Of course she is. She thought she was going to be kissed, and along came Lewis to spoil the whole thing. Not that she wanted Jesse to kiss her, but still, it might have been nice.
Her grumpiness started to rub off on me. It happens. I get really involved in my stories. The problem is that I wanted to start ripping heads off, and I wanted to start with sweet, understanding Jesse.
No sooner had I shut my computer down than a section I’d written earlier started bugging me. It was such a small part. A few moments just before everyone went to bed. If my story were unfolding before you in real time, it would have happened in less than a minute. A line. A word misspoken. Such a tiny piece of the story.
When I woke up, it was still eating at me. It was driving me crazy. Once I’d turned my attention to it, I realized it was contributing to what made Mary Cardelia so cranky, and it was the reason why I was so ticked with Jesse.
That one little thing Jesse said had written me right into a corner. Mary was so upset, that she wouldn’t even consider doing anything. She was stubborn and mule headed and not receptive to any of my suggestions.
Once I realized where my problem lie, I started focusing on how to fix it. I couldn’t just delete what he’d said. That would leave a gaping hole and render the rest of the scene useless, and I rather like the scene.
Scribbled on a piece of scrap, I now have the solution to the problem which will actually expand the scene just a little bit, still justify Mary’s pissy mood, but allow her to be a little more receptive to continuing her story. In fact, I even figured out what happens next.
ShldBWriting 