Born, Not Made

Stories are discovered. Not manufactured. Whenever I'm struggling to make a plot line work, it's likely because I'm trying to force the story to go in a direction that it actually doesn't (or shouldn't) go.

I hate to sound writerish... But stories are already there before I ever start writing them. The world of my fantasy is, to me, a real world with real people. I create nothing. I only enter that world, and bring back my treasure trove - in the form of nouns and verbs - to reveal that world to my readers.

My dear writing friend dared to ask the question, "Why?" A formidable question, indeed, to the writer. She asked what was the deep, driving motivation for my character Jak, and, as I thought for a moment, I could see his motivation clearly. It was already there. I just hadn't discovered it...until that moment. 

Novel Update: It's more difficult to track a second draft than a first, because I'm jumping all around the book. I have "red-penned" up to Chapter Seventeen. I'm going back and adding a few more scenes to give the characters, such as Jak, more depth. But I must hurry...140 days remaining!