An Epiphany...

Castelnaud By Judi ©

Ah yes, I'm writing from my castle turret!!  Quill in hand and parchment near... I have been working on a manuscript that I had a perfect beginning to, and then?  After two chapters, I found myself with nothing... nowhere to go which is unusual for me.  I figuratively placed it in the drawer and moved onto another manuscript, which I was able to draft relatively quickly.

As I started this on-line workshop though, I posted chapters from a mystery which I was pretty sure was ready to go to print.  Well, not so fast.  Heidi's questions were probing and intriguing and my story didn't have the answers.  As the weeks have gone by, her guidance, questions and comments have made me return to my characters and become them... so I see, feel and hear everything they do.

I removed my stuck story out of the drawer, and with great courage, posted it for my three male counterparts and Heidi to read.  It so happened that this story started in Boston and moved to Paris.  Absolument!  Her first comment was "Is she...well, what is she, who is she?"  As I had written my character so far, she was like a paper doll, a cardboard cutout.  I had described her clothes, hair and eye color, her journey and arrival in Paris... my writing was great, but my character was flat. Who was she exactly?  "There's a tantalizing story here," Heidi said, "imagine the conversation between she and her boyfriend and make it crackle... ..... and I want (name) to be a character who really grabs my interest so I can follow this story." 

Okay... so I dug in, closed my eyes, sat with her boyfriend, argued with him, saw him as dismissive and arrogant.   And I said, why is she with this jerk?  I had no answer other than she was weak and weak was not what I was going for here.  So I went back and started a new revision.  I sat in the restaurant with him, told him what great things my character was doing, but he proceeded to still be dismissive of her accomplishments.  Okay, she had chosen this guy for a reason?  Well, this trip came up and now she was starting to expand her own life, I was getting to know her.  At the end of this revision, Heidi said, "You have really begun to bring this to life!   I love... and I love... and we still have all these questions yet to answer about her and her mother...."   I had actually made her into a woman that I and the others were getting to know.  I was thrilled.

So, I'm now into week six and working hard, but have expanded my writing so much.  I will miss this workshop when it ends but hopefully will not lose the energy and wisdom I have gained from Heidi.  

More as I  finish in a few weeks.

Till,
Judi