Want to make writing easier? More effective? Read on.
Smart travelers study road maps before leaving on trips. They want to ensure they don't wander off on even interesting side roads, and never reach their destination.Words of time-tested advice.
If you have an exciting plot rushing at you with the speed of light, don't stop to outline it. Once you get it down on paper or in your computer, do an outline or a chapter-by-chapter synopsis. Fresh ideas will pop up to enhance your story.
If you only have an idea in mind, do what I do. Play the "what if" game. List all the things that could logically happen. Here is what I did with my latest Cherished Historical Romance (#5), Storm Clouds Over Chantel, just published.
Original idea: Runaway Boston Bride seeks sanctuary in the Old West in the 1880s.
What if:
- Wedding dress ready, marriage date set, Chantel Evans learns her fiance is a fortune-hunter and loves another woman. She breaks the engagement.
- Arthur and his cousin, Chantel's guardian/step-mother, plot to take control of Chantel's inheritance left by her maternal grandmother
- Harriet has already stolen most of what Chantel's father left her.
- The distraught girl discovers the schemers' plan to have her committed to an insane asylum and claim the large inheritance.
- Chantel boards a westbound train, hoping to find a home on her estranged grandfather's Triangle C ranch in frontier Montana.
- Brandon "Firebrand" Morgan of the Rocking M, is highly suspicious when after years of ignoring Charles Evans, the eastern girl appears just when his friend has been shot
- Shocked by Brand's fiery accusations she is only there to inherit the ranch, Chantel faces the loss of her grandfather, and the task of running one of the biggest spreads in western Montana.
- The hands don't want to work for a woman, but agree to give her a chance as long as the ranch foreman will still be in charge.
- Rustlers, a mysterious rider, and enough set-backs to overwhelm a less-determined young woman continue to hover over Chantel, like the ever-present storm clouds that have haunted her since they first appeared in Boston.
- She and Brand continue at cross-purposes until a kidnapping, a near-hanging, and a surprising disclosure change the picture.
Give yourself a break. Play the "What if" game. I did. And I am glad.
Colleen's Books
6 comments:
Always interesting to read about your writing processes and experiences. I still can't figure the next step in a story until I've written what comes before--not to save my bacon! But I understand each writer has to find her own methods. Exploring what works for others may lead to something new and different with pleasing results.
Wow! That's awesome. Playing the "what if" game is a great idea. Thanks for the idea, Colleen. Your book sounds intriguing.
Thanks, Judy, and Linda. Yes, each of us must work the way that is best suited to us. I was just amazed at the difference it made for me, which I hadn't expected! Freed me to add (and delete) and improve. I so appreciate your comments. GRIN.
You are uniquely gifted, Colleen. Thanks for taking me along on the trip.
Marge
The road to success ... this is probably the question that many are asking themselves. I think that you are a talent in your direction, not everyone manages to "sit down and write", it is great that you share all your experience, it is valuable!
Thanks, Marge and Roger. So many along the way have encouraged me, I want to pass it on.
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