Everything Old Is New Again....writing the same story differently

I had a brilliant thought this morning concerning a missing zinger for the novel I'm working on. (I borrowed that "zinger" part from my friend Kristen who just so happens to be celebrating a birthday today...Happy Birthday!). I LOVE this book I am writing. I LOVE the characters, I LOVE where it's going...but, it needed a pop; that bit of the unexpected. There has been so much intensity from point A to point B. I didn't want to lose that for those who will read it as I head to point C. And I GOT IT! I won't tell you where I was when I got it. Okay, I will.....in the bathroom. That is the best place ever because, even if I'm not doing anything in there, I can shut the door and no one bothers me until I come out!!! I ALWAYS take my notebook with me to the bathroom :) Keep in mind I'm the mother of 4 children, with 2 cats, 2 dogs, and a husband. There's no such thing as privacy here!

Anyway, I can't share what "IT" is yet but hopefully your mind is flowing and you're beginning to wonder, especially if you have read the first part on my website (LindaBoulanger.com under Preview Page). Just know it's going to be worth the wait and then you'll be unable to put it down :) It's a hibernation book: find a comfy place and don't come out until you're done.

When I first got the idea for this book, A Marriage of Necessity, I was concerned because it's kind of a book about an arranged marriage. They didn't marry for love. In fact, they met for the first time and agreed to get married within a 30 minute time span, I would say. I loved the idea and the possibilities that began to spin in my head, but I wondered how I could make something that had been done before different enough to make people want to read it. In reality, and we've talked about this before, everything has been done before. Think about the books you've read and the movies you've seen. How many tackle something that's completely different?

When I reconnected with my friend and co-writer, Patrick Sipperly, he was very much in the throws of writing a screenplay. It's a great screenplay, by-the-way, and I have faith he will pitch it and it will get picked up and you'll get to enjoy it on the screen someday. I was blessed with a pre-read as well as a great lesson as Pat pointed me in the direction of a book by Blake Snyder called Save The Cat! This book deals with screenplay writing, however, I read it and found so very much of it pertains to novel writing as well. Blake devotes a whole chapter, 26 pages, to giving a twist to the same old theme. According to Blake, you can run right up to the same old same old but then you'd better give them something just a bit different. I've kept that in mind with everything I've written and tried to put that fresh spin on things. Not always easy when one is in the thick of inspired writing. Oftentimes, just as it happened today, I will be writing only to get that spark (perhaps the truly inspired part?) and know I've got IT!, that one bit that will make it the same only different.

So keep in mind that everything old can be made new again with the proper twist. Our job as writers is to create that tension and add the turns that will keep our readers interested all the way from A to C including the coast through B. Once this book is finished I'll expect feedback as to whether I've managed to accomplish that very thing. Not intending to be cocky here but I'm feeling pretty good about my success rate on this one :)

You NEED an outline. Really?

I remember feeling greatly relieved when I learned that famed author Stephen King believes that creativity and flow are hurt by an outline because I hardly ever make an outline before I start a story. I get a general idea in my head and pretty much know where I want it to go, however, the characters often take on lives of their own and dictate to me what we'll be doing. I find it rather exciting that way because it's often as if I'm reading the story as well. The process reminds me of a flower that starts as a bud and opens, little by little, to reveal a beautiful, full-blown blossom.

It can, however, lead to potential rewrites or deletions of already written parts. I'm okay with that. Some writers are not. They don't want to do a bunch of work that will get tossed to the side. I've heard that author Janet Evanovich believes the outlining stage should be even longer than the actual writing. Yikes! That's not for me. However, I like what full-time freelance writer Steve Thompson has said. In his post Do You Need an Outline Before You Write Your Book , he reminds us that "What most aspiring authors don't realize is that an outline is a tool, and not a prerequisite." I got the feeling from the article that Steve is an outline user, however, he encourages writers to try it but do what feels the most comfortable. Hats off to you Steve for telling writers to explore and find what works best for them! His article also reiterated what I'd already learned about Stephen King and Janet Evanovich.

When my husband worked in the music industry in Nashville, he had the opportunity to sit in on a few songwriting sessions (with some known writers, actually, but who wants to drop names :) they were the same way. Many of the writers wanted to "know exactly where the song was going" while others just wanted to start singing and see where it took them.

Bottom line...you have to do what works for you and, either way, it's okay. There's no right and wrong, just a need to develop great characters in a great story. (sorry guys! I'm new to blogging and it keeps deleting the spaces between my paragraphs on this one. I tried to differentiate them with bold and italics).