I’ve had a couple of major breakthroughs on my work in progress over the last couple of days. The way I write involves a lot of just getting it out there and then deleting what doesn’t work and keeping what does, rinse, repeat. I’m pretty early on in this first draft, and I’m still getting to know my characters, so things are pretty fluid right now, and a lot of stuff ends up in the trash.
Yesterday, I had an idea form in my mind about a one-legged werewolf, and my villain was born and he is so full of awesome I can’t wait to write his parts of the story.
Today, I realized that the big conflict for my hero was not going to be what happens with the villain. No, this hero is going to have to work for his happy ever after, but it’s going to be soul work, not leg work.
I love these little moments where someone I’ve been writing opens up to me and becomes a real person to me. It happens with every hero and heroine at some point, and Fionn’s been trying to tell me something for days, but I finally heard it this morning.
Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? The creative process is both frustrating and fulfilling in that way. It’s like opening up a present every time I start typing, and then trying to find a place in my house for it. I got a big box of awesome today, and it might take awhile to figure out where to put it, but it’s going to be worth it.