I currently have two works in progress going. One is a ghost story set in Scotland. While that is out being critiqued, I am writing my amnesia-tic cowboy story. They could not be further apart in the world building spectrum. I don’t have trouble keeping them separate because I write like how I watch a movie. It’s just like watching a comedy followed by an action film, no problem. And that is how I write, like I’m watching a movie. As I view the scene in my mind, I adjust the lighting, the camera angles, any possible music in the background. Then I take what I see and write that down. How could that be difficult?
Oh, but it is. I can see the picture so clearly, but when it comes to putting it on the page, sometime I just can’t do it. I can see Trey, so vividly. He has just come home from the hospital and he is standing outside on his ranch. His worn boot is resting on the bottom rail of the fence. He is staring out into the horizon. The rolling landscape is framed by the setting sun, the dry dust of summer has kicked up and makes the glowing ball look hazy, as he contemplates whether or not he can build a future without remembering his past.
Well, you might say that I just did it. I put what I saw visually into written word. But did I do it correctly? Can you see the orange and yellow light reflected in the atmosphere? Can you see the apprehension in his dark blue eyes even as he shoulders are set in determination, because it is not in his nature to back away from adversity? Does it make you want to keep reading? Those are the questions that run through my head when I write. Did I convey what I see, did I take too long, is it not enough? This is when I wish I could just put the keyboard to my head and let it suck the image from my mind. I seem to have a fixation on the whole mind-technology-link possiblity.
This is the same issue I had when I wrote about Aiden, my haunted Scotsman. There was a lot of research in his book and it was a story I had first thought of over seven years ago. You would think it would have been easy to compose a scene I had visualized over a thousand times, but no. I struggled then too. And the whole time Trey was at my shoulder begging me to write his story instead.
“Come on darlin’. You know my story. Write me instead.”
“No. I owe it to Aiden to tell his. He’s been waiting for years.”
I fought with Trey a few times because I felt I owed it to Aiden to finish his story. (yes, I talk to my characters. If they are not real to me, how can I make them real to you?)
Now I am facing a similar situation with Trey. His best friend Mark is at my side asking about his story. He wants a woman of his own.
“Why are you asking me?” Can’t he see I’m stressed enough as it is? “You are a secondary character. I have no intention of writing your story.”
“Why not? Don’t I deserve a happy ending too?”
“Well, I guess so. But what would it be about? Who is she?”
He blew in my ear and there it was. His whole story laid out for me. The heroine, the conflict, the villian. All wrapped in a pretty bow just waiting for me to tell it.
Well crap. Now I have Mark ready, but I have to finish Trey and go back and work on Aiden. Meanwhile, waiting in the wings are Max, and Hank, and Clancy, and the twins Ethan and Evan, and Dex…
Maybe I should write cookbooks. I’ve never heard of a cupcake jumping up and begging to find their perfect match.