You know those scenes that are just so delicious that you can't wait to write them, but you don't write them yet because it isn't time? So you use them to bribe yourself to write the boring scenes in between?
Yeah. Don't do that.
Yeah. Don't do that.
I hate it when I find out that I shouldn't have done that.
I learned this lesson years ago, when I came up with a scene that was incredibly moving, a pivotal point in the development of a deeply wounded character, and I looked forward to writing it with intense anticipation... only to find that by the time I got around to it, all the life had already drained out.
I'd forgotten too many of the important points, I'd already worn the emotion out of it, and the magic was forever lost.
That long-ago lesson was reinforced to me while writing Heroic Lies - only this time, I did things right.
This time, I wrote down scenes, parts of scenes, or scene outlines as they came to my head, and I never once regretted it. It meant that when I got to the point in the book where the scene needed to be added in and fleshed out, a lot of the work was already done, and done better than it would have been if I'd waited to write it until then.
And, even better, it freed up my mind to concentrate on the parts of the book that came before the 'candy bar scenes'. Because of this, those other scenes were more enjoyable to write, and were better-written and more interesting than they would have been if I'd simply slogged through them with another scene on my mind.
And now comes the editing process. The process in which I polish everything up, and turn every scene into a candy bar scene - even the ones I wasn't that excited about the first time around.
UPDATE: I've got some great news!
If you enjoy superhero stories with a twist, Heroic Lies is now available for purchase! (Actually, it's available for purchase even if you don't enjoy twisty superhero stories, but in that case, it would be irrelevant to you.)
To learn more about the novel and to get your copy, click the button below.
RSS Feed
