Robyn - Surprises
I like books that have good surprises at the end. However, I know the surprise is there, already written and ready for me when I read it. As I’m writing my own books, however, when a surprise comes, it’s a surprise! As I began to wind down the draft of my next book, Robyn, I got a shocking surprise. Robyn has eleven chapters, but I did not write it from beginning to end. In fact, as I was completing chapter 10 most of chapter 11 was done.
So, at the end of chapter 10, four of my female characters are walking out of the Louvre in Paris. The plot points I wanted to make in the Louvre were done, so I was thinking about how to get them out of the Louvre and back to their rooms in order to end the chapter. My problem was to do that in an interesting way that somehow moved the plot along.
Suddenly, one of the characters unexpectedly broke loose from my plot and did something I had never thought about. It was not something I wanted her to do or even imagined before she did it. It was a complete surprise that she would even think of it. But it was incredibly clever, (she said only three words) and had such an impact that the scene and the chapter had to end right there. Not only that, it led to a major conflict in chapter 11, which heightened the impact of the final resolution significantly. So, I had to rewrite a good part of chapter eleven. I love it when my carefully thought-out books throw me a surprise.
The draft of Robyn is complete. Now it’s time for me to review and edit. Writing the draft is about 80% inspiration (creating) and 20% perspiration (writing); editing is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. It’s difficult to stay focused, except for the fact that some of the neatest “surprises” happen in this part. I anticipate six months for this. However, for the past few weeks I have been immersed up to my ears – I need a break at this point to let the creative juices redistill.
So, at the end of chapter 10, four of my female characters are walking out of the Louvre in Paris. The plot points I wanted to make in the Louvre were done, so I was thinking about how to get them out of the Louvre and back to their rooms in order to end the chapter. My problem was to do that in an interesting way that somehow moved the plot along.
Suddenly, one of the characters unexpectedly broke loose from my plot and did something I had never thought about. It was not something I wanted her to do or even imagined before she did it. It was a complete surprise that she would even think of it. But it was incredibly clever, (she said only three words) and had such an impact that the scene and the chapter had to end right there. Not only that, it led to a major conflict in chapter 11, which heightened the impact of the final resolution significantly. So, I had to rewrite a good part of chapter eleven. I love it when my carefully thought-out books throw me a surprise.
The draft of Robyn is complete. Now it’s time for me to review and edit. Writing the draft is about 80% inspiration (creating) and 20% perspiration (writing); editing is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. It’s difficult to stay focused, except for the fact that some of the neatest “surprises” happen in this part. I anticipate six months for this. However, for the past few weeks I have been immersed up to my ears – I need a break at this point to let the creative juices redistill.
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