For the past few months I didn’t know, not on a conscious level anyway, what the big twist would be in Buzzards. I had a couple of small ones worked out that I knew would relate to the big one but the details of the major twist eluded me until yesterday. Well it revealed itself, in a huge way, and while I love it, I’m worried it’s too much for most readers to stomach.

There are two concerns: First, I don’t want the twist to undo the bond between the reader and the female lead. Second, I don’t want the reader to be so turned off by the twist’s denotation, they put the book down and give up on the story.

I can’t really go into details or it’ll ruin the surprise; thus, I’m stumped how to go about getting feedback. I don’t belong to a local writing group and I don’t have an online crit partner. Holly touched on surprises and the Law of Unintended Consequences in Lesson 10 of Think Sideways, but I don’t remember reading anything about how to handle them.

Why, Muse? Why did you do this to me?

Here are my questions:

1. Should I even care about this when I haven’t finished the novel?
2. Once I finish the novel, should I worry about how the twist will affect some readers? It’s not shock for shock’s sake. It does add to the story–it’s an obstacle and additional tension; thus, more conflict. But it will hit a nerve.
3. The twist will provoke a “What would I do in her position?” response from the reader. Is that more powerful than the shock of a taboo situation?

My gut tells me to ignore the voice in my head – damn inner critic – and continue down this path. I mean, if the twist caught me off guard, it’s bound to do the same thing to the reader, which is what I want. Honestly, this is part of what’s stopped my progress in the past. I’d hit some point in the story where I thought too many jaws would drop so I froze up and quit. I refuse to do that ever again but this is new and scary territory.

I guess the only option is keep writing and see what happens.

What do you think?

I never know how much to share about my work – part of me wonders if someone will borrow the idea and part of me wonders if someone will say they’ve never heard of a more absurd idea. Both thoughts are my inner critic, and he lives in a house built on fear; therefore, I do my best to ignore his misguided attempts to help and go on about my work as usual. But right now I’m not ready to share much more than this:

Buzzards is a horror / dark fantasy novel centered around a female lead and a dying race of shapeshifters. My research didn’t yield anything like the characters I’ve created so I feel pretty good about the idea’s freshness. And that is one of my top five goals in writing: a fresh idea or fresh answer to a what-if question. I’m not really concerned with packing the plot in a neat little box just yet; however, if I had to, I’d say it’s transformation with two subplots: discovery and love. Really, I just want to get the book written, using my notes and tentative outline, and then I’ll address any plot issues during revision.

Next, Wolf has been in the works for over a year. Actually, more like three years, if I count how long the lead begged me to tell his story, but here I’m referring to when I first began writing the novel. It’s my graduate novel for Holly Lisle’s Think Sideways, so yeah, there have been some delays. Mostly because Buzzards beat up my muse and refused to wait in line; partly because I’m a recovering procrastinator.

I still make notes in my Wolf writing journal on a regular basis and make an entry from one of the story’s characters, usually the male lead, about once a week. The novel is a dark fantasy / fairy tale retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood stories and I haven’t found anything similar to date. But, with the influx of retellings, it’s possible someone will ask the same what-if question I did to discover Wolf. Of course I like to believe no one could tell this story the way I will since it was buried in my muse’s hole.

Lastly, I’m really, really stoked to start my next short story. There are two dukin’ it out for the top spot and my personal favorite is a zombie tale that my muse hit me with on Friday while driving through the little village I live in. Its working title is “Garbage Day” and it will be 5,000 words or less to fit within the publisher’s guidelines. Why is “Garbage Day” the favorite of my top two ideas? Because it’s a story I need to tell; it speaks of a truth I hold very close to my heart. And truth is another of my top five goals in writing.

Alrighty, I can’t lollygag around here much longer ’cause Buzzards is waitin’ on me.

What can’t you wait to do in the coming months?

Let me know by posting a comment below.

This is one of the main reasons I’ve always been scared of planning in my writing. I was so sure that any sort of pre-planning would kill any and all hope of potential twists and turns in my story. Plus, I’d read numerous articles, by very famous authors, who proclaimed they did no planning whatsoever. They just sat down at their typewriters or computers and, from start to finish, wrote the story I’d read. So I thought this was how all good writers wrote.

Well, let me tell you, I’ve never had a better grasp of my stories than after I began using Holly Lisle‘s techniques. I get pings of inspiration, potential twists, and new directions all the time, especially during the planning phases, but even after I’m finished planning, which is when I most feared losing my spark. And Holly’s Sentence Lite is the ultimate way to plan while not stifling my muse’s need to create and explore.

I’ve also learned some great ways to cultivate surprises and goosebumps and shivers down the spine–only time will tell if I’ve successfully implemented them though ;P

This is one quote I really need to read on a regular basis. Holly Lisle touches on this in her courses as well. I would often try to craft my stories around what people might want to read (or hear) instead of just writing the dang story from my head and from my heart. I think that notion ties into my perfectionist tendencies–if I can’t do it perfectly the first time, why even start?–and my fear of rejection.

The truth is, a lot of people connect with a story written from a place of honesty and vulnerability, somewhere deep within the author, rather than one written to sell 1,000,000 copies.

I connect most with the last sentence of this quote because it is so true. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of “fairy tales” in the world¹. They’ve been told in thousands of different ways. But my stories are unique because they are mine. I am the only one who can tell these stories, my stories, and the only way I can do that is to write, write, write.

Who cares if everyone in the world flips their lid over it? Who cares if everyone in the world gets it? Who cares if it sells 1,000,000 copies? My story, the one only I can tell, will be told. That’s THE point. That’s THE reward. Obviously, paying the bills wouldn’t hurt either, but that’s not my primary objective.

Of course, there will be a lot of revision in there as well and probably a ton of words getting thrown out and possibly computericide² if I feel the screen is just not showing me what I see in my mind. It’s nice to blame something other than myself sometimes, especially if it’s an inanimate object³.

In the end, I accomplished my goal–it was my story, I felt the need to tell it, and I did.

I don’t have to churn out pages of mind-blowing greatness every time I sit down. I just need to write. After I’ve written, I go back to discover if anything I’ve written is worthy of sharing with anyone else. If not, so what? By worthy I mean, after reading my story, the reader’s brain won’t seep out their ears into a useless pile of ooze.

Really, the thing I’ve made the hardest about writing my books, is the easiest. I know what I have to say. I know the questions (aka themes) burning in my brain and tugging at my heart. Now I just have to write.

² I define “computericide” as the act of murdering one’s computer.

³ I don’t really blame my poor computer. I don’t blame anyone or anything. That’s because blame implies at some point I didn’t have the CHOICE to avoid whatever consequence I’m now seeking to push off on someone other than myself.

Blame is very simply placing the responsibility onto another person, place or thing. It’s useless when you seriously think about it because what happened, happened. Nothing you can do or say can change it. So why blame the result on someone or something else? What do you gain by blaming? The sense of peace (ignorant bliss) that comes from feeling you weren’t responsible for whatever happened?

Why do so many of us so willingly give up what little control (in the form of choices) we do have in this world?

Hmm, interesting.

FYI: Direct TV has a new commercial in which one of the executives suggests they all “blamestorm,” that they have a ‘blamestorming” session. I roll on the floor laughing and snorting every time I see or hear it. That’s some funny stuff.

You may have noticed my weekly “Quote of the Week” posts have dwindled to non-existence over the past 30 days. Even my book reviews have been neglected. “Why?” you might ask. Welp, not one reason in particular really. My work schedule has been hectic with a lot of “Now!” projects on my plate. Then my personal life took an unexpected turn and then another unexpected turn and yet another one so that I’m full circle back to where I started.

Finally, I’m on my first real vacation in FOUR years! June 26th through July 5th. No “work” for 10 whole days. It’s effin awesome I tell ya. Work is so overrated. I set a goal for myself–while making my way-too-ambitious ‘to do on vacation’ list–to get the weekly quotes ready to go through August 1st, update my current WIP word count, which amazingly has gone up 1,000 words over the past two months (yay!), and to get the six book reviews I have scribbled down on paper into Flying Monkeys. All very do-able as long as I stay *gulp* focused.

So I do apologize for my AWOL-like behavior of late, but I promise, I’m still here. I’m still reading every day, sometimes two books a day. I’m still watching way too many movies for everyone else’s good as they’re subjected to my randomly spewing one-liners at them, which I find hilarious, but them, not so much. (Apparently, not enough people have watched Role Models to fully grasp the humor of hearing me tell my daughter, “I will hit a child,” without feeling like they should call in Children’s Services. I get a kick out of it though. On second thought, maybe I should stop quoting that line to strangers’ ill-mannered kids? That could be taking it a tad too far. Something to mull over later I s’pose.)

And, of course, I’m still writing. As a matter of fact, I’ve been bombarded by my muse lately. I see and hear so many stories that I can barely make note of them before I’m getting another burst of inspiration. I have so many unanswered questions that I’m dying to answer in my stories. It can be a little overwhelming sometimes. I love it!

My biggest goal continues to be implementing and maintaining a writing routine that fits into my already overfilled schedule. I read Holly’s “Write A Book With Me” post over on her blog today. Very interesting and I’m going to try it. Many of her techniques and strategies are working for me, why not try one more.

On that note, I am going to sign off for sleepy time.

Do you ever wonder how much more we could accomplish if we didn’t have to spend time on such trivial tasks as waste elimination and sleep?

Just something to ponder when you’re bored.

Toodles y’all!

Video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPCn6hzQxaQ

Holly’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/HollyLisle

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I started blogging in August of 2008 so I’m relatively new to the scene. Blogger was the first tool I found so that’s where I created both my official and unofficial weblogs. However, after I graduated from the HtTS course, I decided to give WordPress a go. So far, so good.

I plan to write about whatever I’m most passionate on the day I make a post. My passions include writing, watching movies (mostly horror and indie films), reading, single parenting, animal rights, and living a simple life. Therefore, I’ve created categories and tags to help you find the topics in which you’re most interested.

All feedback and suggestions are welcome. Please feel free to e-mail me at leahabney (at) gmail (dot) com.

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