The Book Two Posts: The Rewrite Ep. 2

First of all.... I got some feedback on the first 30 pages, and it was good. 😁 She wants to know what happens next, which I think is the desired reaction. That's when I told her I can't send her the next pages right now because I'm editing them and adding a new scene.😅

In case you aren't aware, this book is a paranormal romance. As I was plotting and writing the story, I knew that I was strong on the paranormal part 👻 but lacking in the romance 💔. So, after I felt like I had the paranormal part under control, I had a brainstorming session to determine what was wrong with the romance, and I realized that my significant other wasn't really developing. It's like I had just set him in circling mode while I was busy doing other things. It was as though I had pushed him to the side and thought, "I'm not ready to deal with you right now. Let the experts do their job."

Sometimes, people go into a relationship thinking that their lives will be complete if they just add romance. Okay, let's be real. MOST people think that their lives are not complete if they don't have a significant other. And there are people who actually think that it's all about them and that their significant others should forget their families, their friends, their hobbies... just kiss their former lives goodbye and enter into Her Majesty's service.

I don't want my characters to be those people.

To me, true romance is when people are better people for being with each other. It's Melvin Udall, Jack Nicholson's character in As Good as It Gets telling Carol Connelly that she makes him want to be a better man. It's not a matter of being willing to give away anything and everything for the other person because that's not really a healthy relationship, and it's not really good for either person. It's wanting to be the best kind of person you can be and hope that, by doing so, your love interest might be willing to overlook your flaws.

So, I had to think about my significant other character and set him on a path that would make him happy and interesting and fun. I had to think about how he might reasonably interact with the other characters and be involved in the action because they were a couple now. I had to think about not just how he related to my main character, but also his trajectory within his own story. It gives the book dimension and makes it more realistic. It makes me feel like I'm being a better person because I'm being more fair to my characters. 😸 So, I thought about his desires and what he might want at this point in his life. When it stopped being solely about the main character, things became more interesting. Interesting is good.

This kind of opened another can of worms. I knew I needed a certain scene because it was logical, and I would feel like I cheated if I didn't have it in the book. No, I don't mean a love scene. That made me think about other people in the story and things that were needed--what was each character's job and what would they be doing and how it would all work together. So, I am in the process of choreographing a scene that will help a lot of things and add another layer. Novels need layers. I like layers.

Unfortunately, this means dominoes will fall throughout the book. This means more scenes. At this point, I'm thinking this is a really terrible idea. But it would make the book better. And I think it would help the parts that I feel are weak, as well.

So, that's where I'm at. Adding one major scene, followed by a reaction scene, followed by the ripples in the pond later in the book.

It will be worth it. I keep telling myself that. I do.

TTFN