 |
| Where have all my stories gone ? |
I admit I just coined that word because that’s what is going through
my head nowadays. Is it just me or is it some sort of reaction to editing over
and over ad nauseam?
It is ridiculous how many ideas for plots are flitting through my
overloaded brain. And I end up discarding every single one of them. Just when I think I’ve got the one…it peters
out. Is this brain drain?
I should be writing a helpful post, but thought I’d share this to see if
any other authors have had this happen to them. I have written six full length
historical romances – four published with two looking for a home - but I
thought I had more to give. I’d hate to think I have dried up.
Is it because nice people ask when is your next book coming out? And I
can’t begin to explain what’s going on with me. (And as you seasoned authors
know, it’s not always a writer who has any control over that.) Maybe I shouldn’t
even be confessing to this as it probably sounds very unprofessional. Still, I’d
sure love to get some input from you dear folk, readers or writers, feeling as if
I am marking time right now.
I have begun stories and then quit, usually because I don’t like my
characters. And you have to like them to stick with them all the way through
the novel, don’t you? Unless you’re writing about a spoiled character like
Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With the Wind. Now is that a germ of an idea? Would you
enjoy reading about someone you couldn’t stand…waiting for her to get her “comeuppance”?
I’m not sure whether a publisher would.
Sorry for going on so, but I had to get this out of my system.
Any advice, ideas, or commiseration appreciated….
Rita Stella Galieh does enjoy her Etiquette of the Victorian Era fun presentations where she plays the part of a governess lecturing her audience on the proprieties of upper class society. Someone said her acquired accent sounds like the "queen on steroids"!
This is a nice platform to share the customs of the era and it gives a background to her characters and their struggles in that time.
Her husband, also dressed for the period, gives violin renditions. However he is glad when she leaves that peronality behind and reverts to her true self again!
See www.ritastellapress.com for information on her books and weekly blog.
I do usually want to read about characters I like (and James Scott Bell also says they have to be likeable).
ReplyDeleteBut when I heard Michael Hauge speak recently, he said we have to create characters the reader can empathise with, and we can do this in several ways. Likeable is one, but there is also sympathetic, downtrodden or clever - ideally more than one.
Good advice via Michel Hauge. Thanks Iola.
ReplyDeleteIn Jerry Jenkins' writing guild recently, he responded to a question like yours - if, after I've written X number of books and can't come up with another, does this mean I've 'dried up'? He reminded us of Stephen King who, after a number of books, announced his retirement from writing because...he didn't have any more books in him. Then, he comes out with another book! This - his retirement announcement - has happened several times. But he keeps finding books inside himself that need to be written. If that can happen to him, it can happen to any one.
ReplyDeleteAs far as unlikable characters, if there's some redeeming qualities or possibilities of change that I see near the beginning of the story, I'll stick with it. If the character can work through their struggles, problems, and conflicts, and find a way to change their lives for the better, then I will read through to the end. A transformational journey in a character is a journey I can also use for my own life story. This is what I've been reading from Ted Dekker.
Wow. This all makes such good sense, NanC! I'm not giving up but so encouraged to know many others have felt this way. Thanks.
ReplyDelete