The Sweet Spot...

May 13, 2014

“I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house. They know how many rooms are going to be in the house, what kind of roof they're going to have, where the wires are going to run, what kind of plumbing there's going to be. They have the whole thing designed and blueprinted out before they even nail the first board up. The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it. They kind of know what seed it is, they know if planted a fantasy seed or mystery seed or whatever. But as the plant comes up and they water it, they don't know how many branches it's going to have, they find out as it grows. And I'm much more a gardener than an architect.” ~ George R.R. Martin

A gardener.  This is probably the only type of garden that I actually succeed in to any degree.  I often joke to my husband that I have an incredible brown thumb.  Flowers tend to wilt when they see me coming.  But when it comes to writing, and architecture and gardening, as George so eloquently phrases it, I understand completely.

Truth is, you can spend a bigger portion of your time planning your novel, plotting out every little nuance, outlining every chapter, every sneer and jeer of your character's face...but what you're really doing is hampering yourself.  Forcing yourself to the rigidity of a pre-destined location for the ending of your novel.  And pushing aside any inspired moments that happen along the way.

Those are the real gems.  The "sweet spots."  Those little inspired plot twists that can only happen when you're knee-deep in the mire of your tale. 

You can't plot everything out in a novel - you have to be a little bit scrappy and just let things happen.  Let me give you an example (and if you haven't read The Last of the Delacroixs yet but intend to, there's a pretty big spoiler ahead.  You have been warned).

I had my very rough outline in terms of what main plot points I wanted to happen in my novel.  Who the characters were and how they related to my protagonist, what main conflicts I wanted them to have.  One character in particular played a very large part in the outcome of my leading lady.  Her name was Lady Etienne, with origins as mysterious as everything else in New Orleans.  She helped Sheba hone her skills, showed her how to become more open to the visions of the dead that she saw walking the streets of New Orleans. 

Who is she? Where does she come from?  Is she from nobility?  Why does no one else in town seem to have heard of her?

The answer to the last question came from one of those inspired moments.  I was swept up and deeply entrenched in the beauty and mystery of New Orleans' charm, walking the streets with my protagonist, seeing the same things she was.  And then all of a sudden it came to me.

Lady Etienne was a ghost all along.  She had been dead for years.  Just yet another of the visions that Sheba was witnessing all around her.  And when Sheba finally utters her name to her mother, her mother's reaction is one of terror.  Fear.  Adding yet another dimension and layer to the questions left unanswered, the intrigues that will further deepen the plot of the saga.

I came up with that twist, and I have to be honest: I was running through the house like a mad woman, laughing in glee.  My dog, Chewbacca, thought I had finally lost it.  But I didn't care.  I was pumped and full of adrenaline; I had finally approached my sweet spot.

Had I plotted out the novel rigidly, I would have shrugged off that piece of inspiration because I know myself; I am stubborn.  And when I have a plan, hell rising up will not stop me from completing it.  Just as I believe it should be completed.  If I had pigeon-holed myself into an outline, then the book would not have had one of its most intriguing dimensions and twists.

So take that original intrigue that you came up with that was forged into an idea for your book (remember yesterday we talked about my "pistols at dawn" and how it became something more).  And create your characters; know at the very minimum how you want them to influence or change your main character.  And then just start writing.  Don't be afraid to pull a Gabriel Thorne and change a character into something deeper and darker.

People are not black and white, good and evil. They are not static or carved in stone.  They are ever-changing, elements of good and bad seeded deep into their character.  Don't be afraid to see what they might become through the course of your story.

I challenge you to do this; take one of your characters and completely change them.  Pull a 180 on who they are; are they even-tempered; are they insane?  Maniacal?  You'll be astounded to see what your story turns into and how much it might change just based on that alone.

Grow that garden.  Toss out those rigid details.  Give your characters a face and give them the room to morph into what they want to be. 

And then that sweet spot, those moments of inspiration in their most ultimate form, will sprout from the earth and bloom into something that you could never have imagined...

~ A

© 2014 Angela Darling, All Rights Reserved.