Happy Tuesday,

I’ve been spending a lot of time writing, re-writing, editing this month. Last week, I had an epiphany which put my writing in perspective.

Currently, I am writing a new WIP, Nellie Stockbridge Mystery, and an old work entitled Woman in a Pale Dress – a MS I completed “ages” ago, but was such a mess I threw it in a drawer.

While writing on both, at different times during the day, I discovered a startling difference between the two. My WIP felt dry, and I was telling the story with flat characters. UGH. Not what any writer wants right?

For Woman in a Pale Dress, I KNOW the characters. I struggled through a couple years of writing, starting over, writing again, adding more characters, messing up the story and then shoving the multiple versions of the MS and characters into a drawer. But I could still hear their voices, nagging me, begging me to give them another chance. I ignored them for a long time, not ready for another round of heartache, cussing fits and frustration.

Working with Familiar versus New Characters in your Writing

Yesterday, I found the old Scrivener file. I didn’t care which version is was (and trust me, I have at least a dozen starts and stops on this one). I opened the file and my old friends flooded me with gracious thank-yous. I know these people, and felt the same elation when I heard them again, and also shame for tossing them aside. So we made an agreement – Let’s start again, but this time, working together.

Granted, there will be disagreements on how the story is progressing, but we will not stop, writing the good, the bad, and the needs-to-be-deleted ugly. We won’t try to fix anything until AFTER the final period is typed on the draft. Then, we’ll take separate vacations and regroup, brainstorming the right path.

The light bulb: With my WIP, I don’t know my characters — yet. And they don’t know me. We are new to each other, still learning how to work with each other. That may never happen, and in some instances, an obstinate character will be fired, and another hired to take their place.

But most of them are still evolving, growing with every keystroke. To make it work, I needed to LET them form, weave their personalities around the words until they are fully-fleshed out characters.

So, although I am committed to my new WIP acquaintances, whom I barely know right now, I am happy knowing that old friends are only a keystroke away, waiting for me in Gossamer Hollow.

I hope my little tale is helpful for you. When writing that first draft, I finally understand what it means to “just get it down.” You will write crap, your bridge scenes, transitions will be horrible, or missing. Your characters flat and uninteresting. That’s ok. It’s just a Draft, and by the end you will know each other; be able to work together until you’re on the best-seller list.

Recommended Movie (It’s on Amazon Prime.) The Man Who Invented Christmas. A must watch for all writers, lovers of Charles Dickens and a darn good holiday movie, to boot!

Enjoy the Day,

Suz

Photo: Young People friends by @Dimhou from Pixabay.com

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