Wednesday, February 17, 2010

When It All Comes Together



It's amazing to me how the creative mind works. For days, I have been struggling to come up with a major plot point in my work-in-progress. I even ended up lost in a brainstorm all the way home from work one day, which, in retrospect, probably wasn't the smartest thing to do considering I had to jar myself out of my reverie to pay attention to traffic!

But when that plot point finally revealed itself to me and I sat down to flesh out the rest of the novel, oh boy...it all just came together so perfectly. And the feeling that accompanied it? Sheer joy.

Before this happened, I was lamenting about how hard this book was to plot, about how I probably shouldn't have tried to tackle something so difficult, that I should give up and do something easier. Now I'm glad I stayed the course. Just because you face a hard task doesn't mean you should quit.

I think we'd all like it if the plot for our novels came to us completely formed. Sometimes, a miracle occurs and they do. But for me, at least, I have to wade through the murky water to find the gold. And that only makes the end result that
much sweeter.

13 comments:

  1. So glad you had those writerly hip waders on! :D

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  2. Glad to hear you stayed the course, fleshing out a plot is never the cake walk we hope for.

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  3. That's so cool! congrats! And your blog looks awesome, too. Trying to redo and update mine. PAINFUL!

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  4. Anonymous1:33 PM

    Sometimes a story is found like a $20 bill on the ground and sometimes it takes some gold-panning before you find it. I'm glad you've found it!

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  5. The creative mind spins pure gold...it just takes a little time! Kudos for hanging in there.

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  6. Congrats on the breakthrough!

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  7. Congratulations on your breakthrough.

    I'm at the wading-through-murky-waters stage at the moment.

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  8. It's been fun to read your progress on this current novel of yours. You started off slow and worried if you could get into it and here you are!!! Hurray!!

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  9. What a great feeling that must have been for you!

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  10. I've had a few of those epiphanies while revising my current WIP but I think I may need a few more to have it all come together in the end! Congrats on figuring things out!!

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  11. Those are the moments that make it fun to be a writer.

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  12. When I get into that brainstorming mode, when days pass as I contemplate a scene, chapter, plot, I remind myself that this, too, is a part of writing. Sometimes it just takes time to work the words through. Have a great weekend, Melissa!

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  13. Congratulations, Melissa!

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