I started writing another book. I have a title (The Captain and Chenille), and a concept. That is, I had a concept until I realized the universe is telling me to rethink the idea. I wasn’t listening to my characters telling me what they wanted to do, and my writing time wasn’t happy.
First came the October Tri-Valley Writers workshop with Scott Evans. His concept that character drives plot resonated with me, and I filled pages with notes on my two protagonists. From those notes I developed a rough outline of the novel. Unfortunately, it had one of those “Step 2: And Then A Miracle Occurs” middles.
Luckily for me, one of my critique groups decided to spend a day together in our own personal, private writing workshop. During that workshop I got an earful about my characters. It was all good, and all energizing. I went home and added those notes to my outline. The outline looked stronger, but the middle still needed work. I stared at the screen, saved the document and signed off.
Then a member of my other critique group lent me a fabulous book, Storytelling Genius by Lisa Cron. Like Evans, her position is that character not only drives plot, it drives the reader. Once again, every cell in my brain quivered with delight. I realized I wanted to know my characters so much better before I started on chapter one of the novel.
As I write practice scenes and more focused back story, I have a much better idea of what I want to say, and what events will help me say it. I am happy with my writing, and I’m even confident I’ll get that murky middle fixed.