So much time to create, and so much subsequent destruction...

by JOEL

First, as some clarification for those who don't know, I've been working on a book for almost 7 years, off and on. It's really been the vehicle to learn and grow in writing.

I've been neck deep in the book recently. I've just finished a thorough re-working of the first 100 8 and 1/2 by 11 pages of the story (over 100,000 words), and I came to a realization I've had before. I've written several drafts based off this one sad fact:

The main character reminds me of a cardboard cut-out.

Granted the rewrites I've accomplished have added some color and maybe some nice stickers to the cut-out, but she's still a cut-out, nonetheless! What is a writer to do?

So I did what any good writer would. I sat down and slugged it out with her. Natalie asked me a great question that I haven't answered well before: What does Lae'sana want?

Blink... blink... That's a darn good question. Oh I could come up with some vague things, but no real driving answers.

This does mean that a lot of the work I just did, and most of the work I did beyond that, is about to be systematically destroyed. Don't get me wrong, it will be well worth it, but it's still sad to look at some scenes I really liked (usually because of the situation or other characters) and drop the proverbial bomb on them.

The good part is I wrote some scratch scenes once I had asked all the hard questions. Natalie and Kevin, my twin, really liked the new scenes. Natalie said "That's what's been missing!". When Natalie really likes a scene, that says something. She is rather a hard-but-loving critic ;-).

So... back to the beginning of the story. This time the main character will take charge of her life instead of floating through the story, blown by every wind of doctrine...