Dreams and Problem Solving

Before I wrote my first Jack Diamond manuscript, I plotted the entire thing out on paper.  It started as a simple skeleton, and then rapidly grew more complex as things moved along.  Because the manuscript was a murder mystery, I needed to plot and plan out when I would kill off certain characters, when I would leave certain clues about certain events, which tasks needed to be completed first, which ones needed to be completed last, and so on.  The ending remained a mystery to me, however, until a few weeks before I finished writing the entire manuscript.  I only discovered the ending when I was writing up my synopsis.  I had to commit to an ending for the synopsis, and once I had committed myself (hahaha! committed myself!!! hahahaha!), it made writing the ending a much easier process.  I honestly still didn't know exactly how everything was going to play out at the end, but at least I knew who was going to live and who was going to die.

Oddly enough, the plotting and the planning took me significantly longer to complete than actually sitting down and writing the book.  The plotting and planning also made writing infinitely easier for me, because as I sat down to write each and every day, I'd simply look over my plot and plan chart, and read what it was that I was supposed to write about that day.  No worrying or fretting, no rueing over events, no long blank stares at empty computer screens, no writer's block.  I'd simply look down, read the notes that said something like, "Scuba diving scene at Ankeny Street Dock," and I'd be all set.

I did not write my first manuscript this way.  Instead in that manuscript, I wrote whatever I wanted to write about that day, and my book meandered and digressed and wandered and eventually got around to where it needed to go.  I think (I know) that is probably why (that's exactly why) my book is eons too long, rambles too much, and isn't as focused as it needs to be.  Alas, I digress (which is what I did throughout the entire first manuscript).

The other thing I did differently while writing this manuscript is that I edited the chapter (or chapters) I had written the day before I began that day's writing.  The editing allowed me to (a) edit my work and (2) get into the same writing 'voice' that I had been in whilst writing the chapter before.  This pattern proved to be so successful to me that when it came time to edit my book at the end, I found I had a million (!!) or so very minor changes (mostly I had way too many commas that all had to be removed), and only three major fixes.  When my book gets accepted for publication I'm quite sure their editor will find another million changes.  I've kept all of Shea's and my husband's sticky notes with editing changes on them and put them in plastic sleeves for posterity.  Perhaps some day they'll be worth a gajillion dollars.  Just think!  I'll be rich!!

Meanwhile, I sit here writing in my blog because I'm at the terribly difficult stage of this manuscript of creating the skeleton and plotting and planning the whole thing out.  This skeleton I created on my own (yay me!!).  But before I can move forward, I find myself needing to tie up a whole mess of loose ends I had created by the end of Jack Diamond's first manuscript.

Most of the loose ends involve Claire.  The Claire in my head is an amazing woman who I hope every reader will fall, at least a little bit, in love with.  Evidently she didn't come across as amazing and wonderful to a few of my initial editors and readers, and I'm concerned.  Clearly, I need to do some rewrites to make my readers love her as I do.  

I've been reading Veronica Roth's blog.  She's the author of the Divergent trilogy.  I *heart* Veronica Roth.  She wrote an interesting article about her time in school when she was asked to sit for an hour while everyone in the room criticized her work.  During this hour, she was not permitted to defend herself, or her characters.  At one point in her article, she mentioned that this experience really forced her to look more closely at her own writing.  After all, if her readers didn't "get" her characters the way that she wanted them to, it wasn't their fault for reading her book too fast or interpreting her words incorrectly.  Instead, she blamed it on a need for better writing and editing on her own part.  

How true.

Especially since my first reader didn't even like Claire.  I was flabbergasted.  Astounded.  Shocked.  Mortified.  Ashamed.  I completely understand that different people in life will like, or dislike, various other characters in various books and movies to one degree or another.  Some people like John better than Sherlock.  Some people prefer Peeta over Gale.  Others like Four better than Tris.  I get that.  It's the nature of all things.  But I was so disappointed in her admission that I wanted to grab back my manuscript, stroke poor Claire's hair, and tell her everything was truly going to be okay.  Then I remembered she is a fictional character who simply needs a rewrite.  Good enough.  I can do that.  (If you read the words, "I can do zat! I can do zat!" in Chekov's voice from the latest Star Trek movie, you're now officially as Geeky and Nerdy as I am.)

So now I am inspired to go back and rewrite a few of my scenes with Claire to share with my readers the love I have for my beloved Claire.  I want them to be as in awe of her as I am, as she struggles through this difficult time in her life.  I also want to reveal a lot more about Claire in this next manuscript.

Well, last night I had a wonderful flash of a dream.  I love those flashes.  Those dream flashes are, after all, how I came up with Jack Diamond himself.  Last night's flash of a dream explained why Claire married Ron.  Such an epiphany!!  I can't tell you how relieved I am that I've had such a revelation.  I simply couldn't move forward with the latest manuscript until I knew.  I don't even know if I'm going to reveal such a key piece of information in this next manuscript, or wait until the third.  But it is so wonderful to know that I know.  I also need to find out what, if anything is going to happen between Jack and Claire.  She has some issues to deal with.  Well, he does too, but hers are a bit more pressing.  Lastly, before I write up this manuscript, I also need to know what Claire's career is.  How I ever managed not to know such a key piece of information about her is astounding to me.  I've had a few thoughts, but nothing has screamed "a HA!" just yet.  Perhaps I need to go into Sherlock's Mind Palace to figure it out.

Needless to say, I know who is going to die.  I know who is going to kill her.  I know where she worked (you'll love it, I promise!), and I know a bit about what her house looks like.  I know where Jack is going to find her, and I think there might be some interesting characters introduced.  I plan to only kill off one character in this book.  I killed off so many in the last one, it seemed to be the right thing to do.   I still don't know what her name is going to be.  It needs to be very generic and boring.  Plain Jane and all that.  If you have a suggestion, I'd love to hear it.  Then I'd have one less thing to do before getting this writing show on the road!!

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