Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Q is for Quagmire

I am in a "Q" is for Quagmire, a corner, a difficulty...if you will. I finished my book Ruby Dawn and celebrated for almost ten minutes before deciding that something was wrong. I'd written a fast-paced suspense -- with some ‘Romance Sauce’ and not, a Romance/Suspense. I'd gotten so into the mystery and the chase of the subplot that I'd neglected to really give my characters the time together that they needed to realistically rekindle their romance.

ARGH! I know that the genre I chose is a hard one. Romance/Suspense is really like writing two separate novels. The romance plot has to stand alone, as does the suspense. Yet, aspects of both have to serve to push along the plot of the other. I sometimes feel like two different writers; the feather-boa-wearing and bon bon eating Romance writer and the fedora-tilting, coin-flipping Mystery writer.

Needless to say I need to rip open the book, eviscerate, and re-stitch my beloved, ‘completed’ manuscript. There are scenes I worked on for hours that just don’t fit anymore, at least not if I keep the hero and heroine together for most of the book. Live and learn. This is only my second romance. The first three books I completed were suspense/thrillers along the lines of ‘24’. Not too much romance to weave in there.

I will get myself some ice cream, some sticky-notes, and a red pen. Let the carnage begin…

Until next time…Go Write!

Photograph by AMagill, Uploaded on May 11, 2006.