Pretty much it's look at the road, see who's walking it.

And don't be afraid of the curves.

Nic asked me to post his. His is a one-word distillation: "Listen."

I've never in my life created a character and then created a journey for them

I have. Or, kind of. Writing romance, for me, involves following some of the rules. So usually, actually, I do it backwards. In other words, What if two people who never thought they'd see each other again find themselves trapped at a house party together for a weekend? And then I try to figure out who those people are, why they never thought they'd see each other again, and what happens now that they have.

With romance, at least, there are always those genre conventions hanging over you -- there has to be a solvable conflict, hero and heroine each have to have an internal conflict, too, there has to be a happy ending, hero and heroine can't cheat on other, et cetera. Again, just for me, it puts on a leash on how I come up with my plots and characters.

I've never in my life created a character and then created a journey for them. Mine tend to happen simultaneously.

In a way I have, with Anna. I got to liking her so much as a secondary character in Lucy's story that I thought, "I can't just leave her as Sebastian's wife for the next 50 years. She deserves better. OK, it's easy enough to kill him off. Then what happens?"

But in general, yeah, it happens simultaneously. It's just that nothing frustrates me more than characters who are wooden and dull or are pure stereotypes.

I think I frequently start from character...or at least this time I did. Allyson-my-character just sort of tapped me and said "Hey!" Although initially the character as I conceived her was very different from how she ended up. Much more troubled, and much less like me(isn't it ironic?) But my timetable got a little MarySueish or something...this woman would have had to be fucking up almost non-stop from the age of twenty to get where I stuck her at thirty, and she couldn't do that or we wouldn't trust her judgement. And it also struck me as ridiculous to hang around rehab hospitals learning their disability experience when I already have one. Hello?

Amy, I think this may be why I suck, as in really suck, at writing straight anything genre. I am so bad with rules. When the nice Buffy novelisation people asked Jenn to ask me if I wanted to write Angel and Buffy novelisations, I asked to see the rules. I read them over, said something unprintable, and had a few words with Jenn. She laughed for a lot longer than was polite or necessary.

Susan, the thing with Anna isn't quite what I meant. I really meant more of what I tend to think of ass the Syd Thrift School of Script Stuff: create characters and throw them at things. (I know, a bit harsh, and I suspect Robin may thump me, but that's what I gathered from the bit of his stuff I looked at).

Anna was far more organic.

Amy, I think this may be why I suck, as in really suck, at writing straight anything genre.

Yeah. It's why I'm having such trouble with this last novella. It can be fun, like putting together a puzzle, figuring out the right pieces and organizing them into something funny, or tender, or sexy -- but sometimes it just gets old. The sameness is beginning to get to me this time out.

You're almost done, bebe. And then you can breathe, move, await baked goods and consider the book you really want to write.

Some day we should collaborate on something.

I just posed a question inh a locked entry. Need schmoop levels advice before I can end this book. Basically, since it's my big what-if, can I end it with a marriage proposal?

Basically, since it's my big what-if, can I end it with a marriage proposal?

Well, what do you want the answer to be? And do you think Bree would say yes?

(Also, I have chapters 14, 15, and 16 to send feedback on -- I just got swamped mid-week, but I intend to give you feedback this weekend.)

And do you think Bree would say yes?

blink

What makes you think he's the one doing the proposing?

You know, I should never expect the mundane from you, you marvellous woman!