The Writing Project

What happens when you look at your work for the 15th time? You have an epiphany.

I was so excited at how far I had gotten with the book. The plot just seemed so brilliant and I was on a roll- typing up a storm, thought after thought.

Genius! I thought…..

The more I read what I had written the more I saw how incredibly awful it was. “Oh yeah- how convenient.” I read convenience after convenience after convenience and was so embarrassed that I produced such a poorly constructed plot progression. It looked- lazy. Like, I know I can do better I guess I just wanted to hurry up and get to the good part- which is exactly what anyone reading it would do- hurry up and get to the good part.

I had to get my character from point A to point B. I didn’t feel like sitting around thinking up a perfectly logical way for her to go about getting there. Nope. Instead, I made her argue with her parents, she storms out of the house, her cell phone rings, it’s her best friend, she goes to her house where her friend then mentions she is leaving for a month (she made these plans in the middle of the night, I suppose) and staying with a cousin that has never been mentioned before in a place no one has heard of- at which point they would go to a bar on their second night there and conveniently bump into the guy she is supposed to meet.

I’m so embarrassed with myself right now, I can’t even believe I had the nerve to share that with the world.

The lesson for today: A good plot is worth thinking through- thoroughly. No one likes conveniences anymore. If you know it sucks, change it. Don’t get discouraged, everyone has the ability to write great plots, but we also have the ability to write total shit. No one is perfect. Re-think it and move on.