Sunday, July 7, 2013

My Novels are Certified Organic

Oh crap...I don't think I'm unique in that my stories, my characters evolve sometimes on their own.  Often times characters surprise the hell out of me.  Example: Fatal Retribution was supposed to have ended after Mark died.  The bad guy was dead, the end...Nope.  I was so very shocked when Raina found his cousin waiting outside the hospital and the story went on for several more chapters...

Often times I put myself in a corner, plot wise, and I have no idea where the story is going, I just know that it feels right.  For instance, up until I actually wrote it, I had no idea Raina was a demigod!  I was like, WTF!!! And until I wrote the third novel, Grave Omen, I had no clue why Raina's mom kicked Nick out at 16 years old...But none of it was forced.  It was all organic.  It just happened.  One minute Raina's consoling her mom, and the next her mom starts talking and my fingers are moving a mile a minute over the keyboard, my eyes are wide with shock.  It's exhilarating and scary and nerve wrecking.

When I write a novel, I sit down and I make a list of questions that need answers, events I think must take place and how those questions' answers should fit into and around those events.  Then I do a butt load of research and scene design and character developments and all that jazz...Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised by the answers that appear organically...but sometimes I'm pissed.  I fight it.  I cry about it even, but in the end truth is truth and the story must be told.

I'm not sure what the point of writing this blog was...I guess I just needed to vent my frustration on the whole process because I'm currently putting together the 4th book and a character I've fallen in love with, totally and madly in love with, has surprised me in a very bad way.  I'm scared and heart broken, but there is no other answer to the questions.  It's only logical.


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