Waving As The Opportunity Flies By...

I'm not going with the family drama story.

Believe me, I started it. I took out some paper and started story mapping the crap out of it. But then, as I began writing, I realized that my main character is kind of whiny and annoying. She thinks the entire world is out to get her and that her family is, by far, the worst in America. So I took a step back and thought it through, wondering just what in the heck I was doing to her. And that's when it hit me: the bitter feelings were the ones writing. As I said, the story is a bit autobiographical, and I got to thinking of all the terrible things my family (and other families, without naming them) have done to me (and loved ones). It made me really angry, which I thought would be a great emotion to have while writing something like this, but it just made all the ridiculousness amplified. I walked away from the story on Tuesday and haven't looked back since.

I know that emotions play a huge part in writing and that we're supposed to have some when developing the characters (just some, not a lot, right?). But this was emotion overload. It's only been a few years since this idea developed in my brain, right around the time a bunch of junk was happening with my family. I thought that a few years would be enough time to look at it objectively, but I guess not.

That's okay, though. I found another story, one that's been festering in my brain since my freshman year of high school. I thought that it would go nowhere, really, but when I started story mapping it, I was shocked to find that it had legs. I started out with just one scene, just to see what would happen, and 10,000 words later, it's something. I'm not sure I want to share the details of this one yet, because I'm not sure what I want to do with it. I'm going to use it in NaNo, that's for sure, because I'm really excited about this one having an ending. Oh, boy, is that dangerous. But, after AYLB, I've been writing little ideas down and none of them have stuck with me. This one, however...I took to it like kids and sticky anything. I found myself groaning when I had to stop to eat or shower or push the cat off the desk because she was pressing the "+" key too much. I have a confession to make, and I don't make this lightly. Sigh.

I'm in love with this story.

I said it. It's out there.

I guess what I love most about this story is that it started off as a simple YA love story, but then developed into something deeper. In AYLB, backgrounds were kept hidden, to keep the story mysterious and going, but in this one, backgrounds are out there, because it helps the characters understand why they're doing what they're doing. And, yes, it's still a YA love story, but one that I actually enjoy writing.

Now that I've gushed, I need to get back to it. It's already been almost fifteen minutes!