Weaving a Spell From Pain

It’s funny how writers can turn something so painful into something beautiful.  Maybe we are witches after all.

I finally have started to share chapters with my beta readers and that has helped a lot with tightening up my novel.  And thanks to them, especially my husband, caught a lot of missed words, too.  I have found that I prefer to edit as I go, examine each chapter for mistakes, plot holes, and forgotten details.  I do follow Hemingway’s rule though:  Write drunk.  Edit sober.  …I’m not really drunk, though.  But I do write a lot at work–paragraph here, finishing a chapter there.  My new best friend is the Rocket Book.  A handy piece of technology for sure!  Thirty bucks well spent.  I will explain more in another post.

But recently, the world of my book and the real world has collided, and instead of crying about for days, I have turned to writing about it.  My MC has essentially 3 love interests–husband, someone from her past, and a new one on the horizon.   The husband can’t be a part of the new life due to his safety, so he’s not actively there, but the one from the past is in her new life, for better or for worse.  The first outline of my novel has them together from start to finish.  And, as time went on, well, I realized that is not realistic.  It’s classic romance cliche, and you know what, ICK.  I wanted something real and raw.

If you have read Sex and The City, Candace Bushnell writes in the forward that in real life, Carrie and Mr. Big do not get together, unlike in the show.  And I liked that, even if I was hoping for a different outcome, it was real life.  As I have said before, I want my series to be as real as possible, something believable even with the supernatural elements.

In real life, someone from my past does not belong in my life as much as I don’t belong in his.  I needed that dose of reality.  I needed to know, without doubt that it is for the best.  But, man, did it produce a crap ton of dialogue.  And, boy, am I going to use it.  They know already that they are in the series somewhat, that I am using poetic license with a lot of stuff, but adding in the real, just to make it believable.

So, here is the spell…

Find out the harsh truth, add it to the past events, fit it into the novel and ABRACADABRA!  The arc of two of my characters .

I did promise him a noble death, and, if I’m being honest, I’m not wanting that right now.  Good thing that it’s not suppose to happen until the 3rd novel, so I have time to cool down.

I feel like the Three Witches in Macbeth while I write at times.  All these characters under my control, living with the consequences of my whims.  Like Jessica Rabbit said, “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way.”

As I have written before, the series is a form of therapy for me.  I do hope though, that when someone reads it, will find the same healing reading it as I did writing it.

Happy Halloween, followers.