3T Writing Tidbit - Writer's block -- isn't always a bad thing.

Here's a controversial take. Writer's block -- isn't always a bad thing.

I have a couple series to finish. Life did a hard right turn on me in 2018 and I've got a full-time job, so those series are going to be a while.

But I've been thinking about the final book in the Pull of the Moon series, Soul Mates. Back pre-2020 I had the main characters scoped out and a plot outline and had actually written three chapters -- and rewritten those chapters -- and restructured the plot -- and rewritten those chapters yet again, thinking it was writer's block, before I came to a realization.

I didn't like the male hero.

Half-heartedly I pushed at it, but between studying for my application developer degree and reeeally not liking the hero, I didn't get anywhere.

A new job was followed by a couple promotions. Life is still chaotic but I found myself thinking about Soul Mates in my spare time. And realized a second thing.

The female hero is...well, not boring exactly, but blah.

There are a ton of books out there with characters who aren't bad, per se, but who are average. That's not bad (per se) -- it's just that you only have three things to work with: character, setting, and plot. Writing a novel is already hard. Bland-ize any one of these three elements and you'll have to work ten times as hard.

Give your characters pizzazz and suddenly the whole process sparkles.

My female hero was a seer who went blind after a vision and played piano (yawn). Nixie is a 5-foot punk rock musician with a vocabulary straight out of Urban Dictionary (sparks interest). My male hero was a half-wizard, half-spirit creature who'd been imprisoned his whole life with his mother (um...) Julian is a 6-foot lawyer with a fangy secret (and also the exact opposite of Nixie, more sparks flying!).

I still haven't figured out what will light the fire in my Soul Mates couple, but once I do I know their romance will sizzle the words will pour out.

Moral of the story -- listen to your muse when she scuttles your work. Pushing through is sometimes effective, but sometimes there's more wrong than just writer's block.

Published since 2009, over the years I've accumulated various items of writing wisdom. The Third Tuesday Writing Tidbit showcases these items in no particular order. Click here to see all 3T Tidbits. 

2T Repeat Performance - questions about Edie

I've done a number of blog tours over the years, posting on different sites. Now I'm bringing them to you!

Originally published February 5, 2013 for the Read Your Writes

1) Edie and the CEO is your first step into the Contemporary romance genre.  Did you find it easier or harder to write?

Easier by far. There’s no world building to do so there are fewer explanations dragging the story down.

2)  I read an excerpt on your website for the book.  It actually left me with my mouth open... Oh my gosh.. What was your inspiration for the book?

Thanks for the kind words :D The short answer? The story is my own experience as a child of the 60s finding a job in the 80sthe humorous clash of hippies meeting the material world. Edie’s passionate about workers’ rights, which gets her in trouble with sexy CEO Everett Kirk.

The longer and more serious answer is that I was the youngest in my family, so was aware of the 60s (and early 70s) through my older sibs. It was a time of protest and change, of dreams and conflict and most of all environmental awareness and grassroots uprisings. But by the time I went for my computer degree in the 80s, that had about-faced to the world typified in Madonna’s “Material Girl”. I personally faced the struggle of my grassroots ideals versus feeding my family and getting ahead in my career. Just as Edie does in the story, I had to go through a lot of conflict to find the right balance.

3)  What three things should we know about Edie and Everett?

-Edie is brash and crusading and cares deeply about her people.

-Everett is more complex, having weathered corporate infighting. But he wasn’t always a suit and has a number of secrets, including his discreetly siding with Edie in the employee-management corporate tug of war.

-Edie and Everett’s bickering is the squabbling friction before the physical flames ignite. ☺

4)  What do you want readers to take away from the book, besides sore cheeks, because they laughed so hard?

You’re too kind! The best thing about writing is touching another person’s life. I feel that if my stories take readers away from their troubles for a little while, I’ve done my job. ☺