I was composing my June newsletter today (yea, that useless thing again) and I decided to include a cover reveal for my new book. I'd designed the cover a while ago, when the story was only about half finished, and I really had no idea what the story was about. Or, more specifically, I had the wrong idea of what the story was about.
At that point I hadn't even added the villain, nor did I know there would be one. Once I created that character, violence inevitably ensued. I wasn't supposed to be writing a thriller! This has happened to me a couple of times before. I wouldn't call these meanderings shortcomings, because they made the books far better, but as a writer who doesn't plan out her books, they often take off in wild, unexpected directions.
With Shadow Song my MC wasn't meant to find her boss's dead body in the woods. It was just that she'd chosen a roundabout way to get to work (to avoid someone), and since she was already in the woods anyway...
Bad Blood was supposed to be a psychological duel between the good sister and the pathological brother. I had no intention of having him set her house on fire...with her in it.
My new story's cover is so naive and hopeful. The trouble is, that's not the story. I worry a bit about it misleading readers, but I'm so done with "scary" covers. Obviously, I'm going to need to set the record straight when I write the blurb.
The first iteration of the story simply involved a misunderstanding that led to a broken heart and disillusionment. Now that I think about it, that's not much of a story. No wonder it came out so short. Now, though, the focus is taken off the MC's efforts to renovate an old motel ~ in fact, it's pretty much taken her away from the motel ~ and to a place where she's trying to hunt down the person who's making her life hell. I don't know that I have misgivings about the story's direction, per se, but it's a rather jarring shift.
Regardless, it's too late to turn back now.
And so the writing continues.
No comments:
Post a Comment