Revisiting stories and how they can help identify problems with others
A story I wrote, that will be published by Dreamspinner Press in May/June, has gone into edits.
Rereading that story has been like coming home. It's a bittersweet feeling because I've been having trouble with the story I'm working on at the moment. I had an enormous amount of fun writing Ordinary People and I still find it an entertaining story to read. Editing it doesn't feel difficult either--and I don't usually like editing at all--because the people and the situation are still so clear in my head.
Vinnie travels from a confused drugged-out kidnapping victim to an adorable upbeat lover. Along for the ride, is James, the calm and sensible counterpart.
I'm finding it strange that I'm identifying more with these two characters than I am with Jonathan in my current wip. Jonathan has been through similar things to what I went through a long time ago so I actually know more about what he's feeling than I did with Vinnie. That doesn't seem to make a difference though. I've portrayed Vinnie's emotions and growth much better than I'm doing with Jonathan.
I found where I'd saved my initial notes for Jonathan's story and have been thinking perhaps that's what the problem is. I wrote the notes, plotted out a nicely rounded story and then put them aside. I had a direction, so I didn't need much more. Unfortunately, my ad hoc approach, while it works well most of the time, hasn't worked at all with this one. My notes forgotten, I'd introduced a completely unrelated plot point into the story that has done nothing but shoot things off in a different direction and undermined the original thesis.
Once I finish the edits for Ordinary People, I'm going to have to look at a rewrite of the last ten chapters of Just the Way You Are (Jonathan's story), to pull it back into line.
Rereading that story has been like coming home. It's a bittersweet feeling because I've been having trouble with the story I'm working on at the moment. I had an enormous amount of fun writing Ordinary People and I still find it an entertaining story to read. Editing it doesn't feel difficult either--and I don't usually like editing at all--because the people and the situation are still so clear in my head.
Vinnie travels from a confused drugged-out kidnapping victim to an adorable upbeat lover. Along for the ride, is James, the calm and sensible counterpart.
I'm finding it strange that I'm identifying more with these two characters than I am with Jonathan in my current wip. Jonathan has been through similar things to what I went through a long time ago so I actually know more about what he's feeling than I did with Vinnie. That doesn't seem to make a difference though. I've portrayed Vinnie's emotions and growth much better than I'm doing with Jonathan.
I found where I'd saved my initial notes for Jonathan's story and have been thinking perhaps that's what the problem is. I wrote the notes, plotted out a nicely rounded story and then put them aside. I had a direction, so I didn't need much more. Unfortunately, my ad hoc approach, while it works well most of the time, hasn't worked at all with this one. My notes forgotten, I'd introduced a completely unrelated plot point into the story that has done nothing but shoot things off in a different direction and undermined the original thesis.
Once I finish the edits for Ordinary People, I'm going to have to look at a rewrite of the last ten chapters of Just the Way You Are (Jonathan's story), to pull it back into line.
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