When Does a Story Become a Story?

There comes a point in the writing of every book where something clicks and it becomes a story. Before that there's a lot of outlining, thinking and whatnot, but whatever it is I have in mind is still a bunch of disparate pieces.

Even after I've started writing, the first parts are all setup and world-building, and many of those pieces go on the table. In many cases, I'm figuring out what it is still, getting a feel for the characters and their voices, the way I'm actually conveying things to you.

Then there comes a moment where I go 'Oh, sh*t, I think I know what I'm doing.'

That sounds flippant, but not all of writing is... fun. There's a lot of stuff you have to do, sort of like eating your vegetables. No matter how much I outline, it doesn't always fit together in my head, and it very rarely feels real. It's like I'm flailing around trying to find something, except I only have a vague idea of what it's supposed to look like. Like I have a jigsaw puzzle of, I don't know, Iron Man. I know what Iron Man looks like, but I don't know what this particular Iron Man looks like. I have the pieces in front of me, so I can begin to guess-- then, piece by piece...

That 'Oh sh*t' moment is absolute magic. It's my story of course, but now I get it. Whether it's a character interaction, or a theme emerging that you didn't even know was there, or some other bit of ephemera that takes you off guard, I suddenly know what I'm writing about.

This time, it was getting the two main characters alone together for the first time. Their interactions just... happened. I knew exactly how each of them was going to act around the other, how they felt, what they were going to say, and what they wanted and needed from each other. Everything.

This is the big advantage of a romance, and also the hardest part. Everything that makes these characters attracted to one another (and what makes them hesitate) has to feel real. You can't fake it, or the whole story implodes. There's an intangible kind of alchemy that has to happen for it to work, and sometimes you can only find it by sticking them in a room together and watching what they do.

I love this part, and is one of the big reasons I write romances. And fantasy romances at that! I guess I'm always looking for magic.

And I think I found it.