Thursday 7 February 2013

An "a-ha" moment!

Did you ever have a plot epiphany as you were writing? Something that would change the rest of your story so drastically from what you had planned, but for the better? I did.
While I was writing today, I was wondering how I would fit everything I had planned into the rest of the story without going overboard long on the word count. I had originally intended to introduce a very important character (let’s call him Bob for sanity’s sake) into the story but I kept delaying his appearance. I kept writing, and writing. And I would ask myself, when is Bob going to show up? It’s not going to make sense when he comes around for my heroine to follow him because there won’t be any time for them to get to know each other and their reasons.
So I opened a new text document in Scrivener and typed at the top: What would the rest of my story look like if Bob did not exist?  And then, as I was replying to that question, I had an "a-ha" moment.
Bob was already in my story.
That’s right. Bob was already there, right under my nose all along, only masquerading as something I hadn’t planned way back when (let’s call this character Rafael). Suddenly it all became clear what I needed to do.
Well, maybe not all clear straight away. I still have some things to work out. So it’s back to the outlining for me. There’s nothing I have to go back and drastically change; my subconscious wrote Rafael the way I need him to be to fit in as the important character Bob. Somewhere, deep down inside I had known Rafael was Bob.
Okay, so this is probably not making sense to you since you have no idea what my work in progress is about, but trust me, this was a big epiphany for me. And it will make finishing my story a lot easier, I hope anyway. There’s still the matter of the showdown with the villain. I have to make it satisfying; I have to make it make sense. This tale will be turning in my head until I figure it all out.
I have a feeling I won’t be getting a lot of sleep tonight.

2 comments:

  1. I know that feeling. Just wish i could make it come quicker, usually have to wait for the penny to drop.

    mood
    (thanks for following my blog, now following yours)

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  2. I know! I wish it would have come sooner too.

    Thanks for following. I really enjoy your blog. I sat there and read your whole character series in one sitting and will soon go back to have a look at old posts. They are very helpful! Thanks again!

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