Okay, if you've followed my blog you know I love chocolate cake, specifically, dark chocolate. All the rules go out the window when I'm faced with a luscious home made devils food either in cake or cupcake form. Especially with that seven minute frosting.
So two days ago I ordered dinner at the pizza place and looked across the counter at a covered cake container and the moistest, most mouth watering fudge cake met my eyes. So I ordered a piece. For an appetizer. I mean isn't that what Marie meant when she said, "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche!" (Let them eat cake, for those of you who don't speak French.) And did she say when they could eat it? NOooo. I'm sure she meant any ole time.
So there I was eating, no, savoring, each bite of cake and thinking about THE RULES... You know, THE rules we all face but as a writer I'm always wondering if I should follow one or break it. It's hard for me to break a rule on purpose. Growing up I was more of an accidental bad girl. And I'll be the first to admit I had a few accidents.
Anyway, I've been struggling with my manuscript, Tempest Rising, for the last month. At about 90k which is the top end of where most romance publishers want a book to be, it's still not complete. The thing is I've planned, plotted, written scenes and synopses up to the end. So I asked myself, Self, I say, what would be wrong with putting THE END on it and going back through it in a high level read through to determine what adjustments I need to make to plot, magic, and character arcs. I have been stalled and questioning whether I can write the end until I understand more about the paranormal elements that have evolved in the last six months. I mean, WHO SAYS, I can't stop with approximately 10k to fill in and go back to the beginning now?
Okay, I hear you, I think. You're probably thinking what I eventually came around to - how am I going to know what special powers the heroine and hero need to defeat the BBG (Big Bad Guy) unless I plod my way through the turmoil and conflicts and fight scene.
My conclusion - I wanted to take the easy way. I'm getting to the nitty gritty of the fantasy part, freaking out and thinking - "*^&%#, I can't do this." I had no idea what I was getting into when I created a paranormal world.
So you'll be proud to know I pulled the plug on the rule breaking and wrote 1700 words yesterday. Fixin to get started again right now.
I AM Going to finish this book next week. I CAN do this.
Ya think?
3 comments:
Yeah! You go girl. What are rules for, but breaking. Then when you get it right you can celebrate with a giantchunk of chocolate cake.
What a great idea! Real incentive, ;)
Now I know what it is that makes you, Michael and me read one another's blogs - it's chocolate. OK we make noises about writing and life and wee sons and things but the underlying message is clear - eat more chocolate.
As for the writing dilemma - I always give the same advice to students and others who ask for advice: read it aloud to hear and 'feel' whether it works; and cut, cut, cut. I had to chop 70 pages from my first published novel and it was much better for it.
And you can definitely do it, Marley. In fact, Michael and I insist that you do.
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