As most (many? all?) of you know, I’ve been posting chapters from my unpublished chick lit novel, Eye Candy, on the blog every Friday. Rereading this book chapter by chapter is taking me down memory lane. This was the second book I ever finished and the first one I wrote by the seat of my pants. I plotted the heck out of my first book and it turned out to be very dull and predictable. So when I had the idea for this book (which I basically started with the title) I just dove right into the story.
I had the premise (girl with candy obsession needs hire-a-date for company function), the setting (New York fashion world), and the main character (my darling, uptight, appearances-obsessed Lydia) and I started writing. I remember telling my critique partner, over and over again, “I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m having fun getting there.”
The final lines of last Friday’s chapter brought back an especially strong sense memory about crafting those words.
You know how sometimes you turn your back for a second and all hell breaks loose?
This was hell and all its suburbs.
I remember the precise feeling of writing those lines. I remember writing the moment where Lydia turns around and has that reaction to the scene before her… and having absolutely no idea what she saw.
Seriously, when I wrote those words I didn’t have the first clue what had happened. (Just like in Goddess Boot Camp when Phoebe turns around in the courtyard and thinks, “It’s the last person I expected to see,” and I said, “Who, Phoebe? Who is it?!?”) That was where I ended the day’s writing and I remember thinking all night and the next morning, “What happened?”
When I saw back down to write the next chapter, as you’ll see this Friday, I finally figured it out. I knew it had to be big and bold and surprising and, well, it is. Just wait. But I think that is one of my favorite parts about writing, those little moments of shock and discovery I don’t see coming.
Over the years I’ve had to become a better plotter. If I want to sell a book on proposal (meaning a few sample chapters and a synopsis) then I have to be able to write a synopsis. And sometimes my editor wants an outline before deadline to make sure nothing’s way off track. I’ve had to adapt. I think part of the learning process was figuring out how to anticipate those moments of surprise that might happen in the coming story.
But when it comes to putting words on a page, I still keep my mind and my typing fingers open to something new and completely unexpected. Because that’s where the magic comes from, and writing without magic is a sad, painful thing.
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