THE SWEET SPOT FOR THE RIGHT IDEA

This past month I have been chasing my tail. I started by pulling an old manuscript from my desk and dusted it off to find it sucked, though was an interesting idea - if I looked deep into the idea, which I was not doing. I was stuck on vampires. Then demons. Then vampires and demons. Then werewolves started showing up. Shape-shifters. A few more demons and before I knew it, I was completely and utterly confused.

So, I emailed a friend who helped me get back on track in a weird sort of way. One thing I'm not afraid of (and believe me, I have many phobias) is learning and listening to those who are smarter than me. Anyway, I did a lot of reading and watching movies this month. I watched Gone Baby Gone, Eastern Promises, A History of Violence, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Nobodys Fool, My Sisters Keeper, Rose Mary's Baby, The Exorcist, Pretty Woman, Steel Magnolias, Scarface, Casino, Demon Hunter, Constantine, The Devil's Advocate, Rain Man and then last night watched Gone Baby Gone again.

This morning, I pulled out my original idea and tried to figure out from that one sentence how I had ventured off in so many different directions. While doing that, my protagonist became very clear through the emotions I was feeling. The key to writing good characters is to make them real. Feel their hopes and dreams. Their fears. Their pain. Same goes with all your characters.

With every direction there was on underlying theme or idea - Katie (the protagonist) has to find her birth mother before the antagonist does - this criminal in Vegas who did a very bad thing a very long time ago. What never changed was the idea my protagonist was not only searching for her mother, but herself. What I hadn't done was cry with my protagonist. I hadn't made her real. She was simply fiction - instead of a real character with a real problem that had to be solved or she would fail. That is what makes good fiction great - the realness.

Anyway, by watching and reading, I came to understand my character. Who she is. What she wants. Without the movies or books, I'm not sure I'd have a creative process. You have to find your sweet spot through finding your blind spot. My blind spot with this book had been holding back on a subject that will force me to open a major vein and bleed out, completely. To cry real tears on paper.