Monday, January 25, 2010

I Have No Idea

How my current story is going to end. To a non-writer this may make no sense at all. The logical set up is that you have a story in your head. That's where it resides. Since it does you should know every facet of the characters, the plot, and the ending.

The truth is every writer makes it up as they go. I say this even for a plotter. While they may use some tool to help them plan before they sit down to write Chapter 1 they still don't know every facet of the story before they use a tool.

So here I am with my names, a plot, some backstory, but I just can't fathom how the story ends. To be honest I'm at war with the hero making the ultimate sacrafice again in one of my stories. Maybe I've been trying to strike a blow for womenkind who have had to make sacrafices for centuries when it comes to love and family.

More likely, while I'm penning the novel the perfect solution will hit me. The one thing I do strive for is that the characters meet each other half-way. A part of love, for me, means letting go of the things you should have done a long time. (usually a faulty belief system.) You have to let whatever it is in order to have that HEA. At this point of the story (I have a plot and some pages written) I can't say with 100 percent certainty what it is my chracters need to let go. Fear, hurt, self-doubt all manifests itself differently. For all I know the heroine has a ring that somehow symbolizes the ONE THING and she has to give it away, lose it, or throw into the ocean to finally be free.

But that's the thing, I have no idea. And THAT'S the reason why I keep writing. Why I love it when a story takes ahold of me. It's an uncertainty in my life that I don't have any control over, but it has yet to fail me.

What don't you know about your story right now?

6 comments:

  1. What don't you know about your story right now?

    Just about everything. I just received my first rejection letter so it has me doubting that mad skill I thought I once had! :)

    Stay strong you'll find your way. I plan to find mine with or without the bread crumbs! :)

    hugs

    Micole Black

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  2. Hugs, hugs, hugs. Doubt is good though. Yeah, I know. It means you are still willing to learn and it means you still have the ability to be humble. Those are two very good qualities to have.

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  3. I can't wait to hear how you resolve this! Do the answers tend to come to you while you're in the middle of writing, or when you get up and leave the story alone for awhile?

    Love the blog!

    Tawna

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  4. I never know my endings. It's the strangest thing. :)

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  5. Tawna, the answers come to me while I'm writing the book. In order for me to write I mentally stick in a placeholder ending. What I think their true underlining fear is at the beginning of the book. Now the more I write the characters the more I'll learn and that initial fear I found is just the top layer of the onion.

    I'll be honest my draft endings suck so I never marry myself to them. I pick at the ending until my gut tells me I've hit the right one.

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  6. Dawn, that's not strange. We all have a different process and that's why I love talking to other authors. We all end up with a book, but we all get their differently.

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