Monday, August 14, 2006

Keep Poking at your Problems

"Nobody's a natural. You work hard to get good and then work to get better. It's hard to stay on top." — Paul Coffey, NHL star

While I was looking for a quote this morning, I came across this:

"Well begun is half done." — Aristotle

And here's your laugh for today. If I had written that quote and then attributed it to someone (because I had no clue Aristotle said this), here's what it would have said:

"Well begun is half done." — Mary Poppins (practically perfect in every way)

LOL...

Anyway...

I went to bed early last night. Didn't feel like reading (gasp!), nothing I wanted to watch on TV, husband was busy cleaning his gun (don't ask - but, no, he's not a serial killer), so I crashed, thinking it would help me get up fresh and early to work.

But I wasn't really tired enough, so my brain wandered. I've been sad that I'm stuck on my SBCM and haven't worked on it lately. I just can't seem to get my brain around having my characters solve a mystery AND fall in love. I focus on one, and the other falls to the wayside.

Last night, en route to Dreamland, I think I figured it out. Take out the murder. Leave the rapist, because he figures deeply in to my heroines problems with realtionships AND he's a main character.

So, it's still a suspense novel, but I don't have to have them solve a mystery. Eventually, they will have to know that the rapist is "the guy next door", but I think that will be much easier.

Phew.

Now I just have to rewrite the first 75 pages and I'm all set. Oddly enough, I'm excited about doing just that. Maybe because I like these characters and want to get back to them.

All of my writing buddies are wanting to reach out and smack me right now -- "Stick to one story!" (smack!) "Get it done!" (smack!)

This is the first time I'm glad that they're all pretty far away.

5 comments:

Judy said...

No smacking from south Georgia! Too much SNACKING, maybe... lol.

I know what you mean about the mystery part. And, I think that the fact our murders were not planned makes OUR job harder. I'm having the same trouble with Fiona. I know what I want to have happen, but it's hard getting the words around it.

Oh, well. At least the Green Sister doesn't demand planning!!!

Anonymous said...

No smacking from here either. That would be like the pot calling the kettle black, seeing as I'm the queen of hopping around from one thing to the next. :)

Charity Tahmaseb said...

It wasn’t that long ago I deleted 7,000 words from TBC and rewrote the front section, essentially from the second scene forward. LOL It happens. While I believe you shouldn’t go over the first chapters/act again and again, sometimes, if you know what’s needed, you should go back in and make those changes.

Write how you see this story, how you want it. If mystery isn’t a part of that, then don’t worry about it.

Ceri Hebert said...

I'm always hopping. Look like a derned frog. And like you, I've been trying to figure plots out and I got my "thats it!" about the same time.

but no writing today. Too much running around. *sigh*

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MJFredrick said...

Good luck with the changes, Marianne!