Behold the Power of Fusion!
As some of you know, I’ve decided to juggle two stories. And it’s actually going well, as well as new projects go for me anyway. But when I first talked about it, writing buddy Karla said something about combining them! 😮
And I wondered…I knew it wouldn’t work because they’ve been in my head for months already. “Whisper” for over a year and Phantom Silence for about 8 months, but I played through it anyway to see what I would lose in each idea if I did (because once she mentioned it, I just couldn’t stop myself!)
To summarize (cause no one sane wants to take that trip with me!), I would end up losing them both. The plots had nothing in common. The MCs had nothing pliable in common. And the biggest thing, the plots weren’t lacking anything to begin with. If I took anything from either story, not only would I have too much going on in the receiving story, the other story would fall apart. I would have to concoct an entirely new story in the old cauldron to get it to work.
But it got me thinking about the nature of merging. After all, I was convinced that if I’m going to merge two ideas together, I had better do it early. Like super early. For me, this means I have to combine them before I have an MC attached to the plot, and since I’m a character-driven author, this severely limits my choices.
Or does it?!
Because I have some characters in a shelved story that I so badly wanted to revive in a new plot. Finding a plot that will work for these people had yet to produce anything, but once my brain got to working, there was hope. Glorious hope. And unbeknownst to me, my brain was working out a solution for not only that shelved story, but another defunct idea, as well.
One night, as I was loitering on the computer, (okay, okay, I was on Netflix watching Futurama) I suddenly started taking notes, without a plan, the best kind of brainstorming (haha). After a couple of pages, I looked at them and realized that this story was perfect for MC Riley, headliner of the defunct idea entitled “The Queen of Diamonds.” (Though I might be in for a title change now.) And I was like, whoa! I love that MC, but I just couldn’t do the original story. It was constantly falling apart, and I was forced to file it away. (Ya know, because something was like extremely wrong.)
There are a lot of moving parts that I need to fit together, but it’s now in the plowable plot bunny field! (aka, the first place I look for my next project when I finish something.) This is SO exciting! Because I not only have a huge girl-crush on MC Riley, I also have a huge CRUSH crush on the two of the 4 characters I’ll be pulling from the shelved project. I promised her I would fix her story, and I promised those people I would find a way to revive them because they were fantastic, and my brain came through for us all! It took me a year, but it finally happened! hugs brain
Without even realizing it, a new plot emerged and absorbed these homeless characters that were running around rampant in my head, characters I thought I would never get anything for (though that didn’t stop me from being crazy and trying). And I realized, I was able to fuse these pieces together so seamlessly because the fragments had enough elements common. They were both fairy-tale-esque, the MC in one of them was being replaced anyway, and the villains in both are the same gender with similar psychotic personalities (done on accidentally on purpose because when I was working on “The Queen of Diamonds” I knew this other idea would be shelved).
But the most important thing of all…both stories needed a major makeover to be truly functional. (Emphasis on Major)
And just like that “The Queen of Diamonds” and my little awesome characters were reborn.
Behold the power of fusion! ^_^
(Thanks to Karla for inspiring this!)
On a semi-related note: I came across this writing analogy a couple of weeks ago: Sometimes in our writing journey, when hope is scarce or nonexistent, it’s like pushing your broken down car up a hill, in the heat, by yourself. And not the “nice” dry Nevada heat, no, the horrible, wet, humid, suffocating Georgia heat. Along the way, however, someone comes along and puts gas in your dried out tank. And suddenly, you have air conditioning! And not only that, you don’t have to push your car anymore?! For a while anyway. 🙂 So even if you still have a long way to go, you’ve gotten a much needed boost along the way. I say this because, if you’re one of those people currently pushing your car up a hill, don’t give up, a boost is coming. ^_^
Anywho, here’s an awesome diagram that I found on Twitter last week:
Writing a book: myth and reality #amwriting #creativewriting #writers #indieauthor #indiewriter #resilience #ebooks pic.twitter.com/Cxh0BJnpAk
— iAuthor (@i_Author) March 27, 2014
So true. ^_^
16 Comments
Michelle A (@SunflowerRei)
We’re all shouting out to Karla this week lol! I’m glad your characters will get a new chance. And that Twitter picture is so true!
krystal jane
We did!
Isn’t it?! It’s like that with writing the book AND the journey it takes to get it published.
Emma Adams (@ELAdams12)
The characters in The Clockmaker’s Key were actually from the first ever novel I wrote! And I used some of the unused plot ideas from that series in the Darkworld series. You never know what will happen! That pic is so accurate. ^_^
krystal jane
Yes! That is so good to know! There’s hope. ^_^ We never can know, can we? This means I do t have to give up on the other ideas in my resurrect file!
authorcrystalcollier
Comment attempt number two… *ahem* Hug that brain, eh? I love it when two stories merge to make one epic one. I’ve got a series where that happened and it became uber epic. You never know where those two words will take you: “What if?”
krystal jane
Exactly! That is exactly what I was thinking when it started coming together. Those words are magical. ^_^
Michelle Tran (@michelletwrites)
Love the writing analogy!
krystal jane
^_^ Right!
sandiedocker
So glad your characters have found a home. Sounds like it’s coming together. Yay you.
And yay to the bicycle pic. So true.
krystal jane
I know! I was so ecstatic. I don’t know when I’ll get to it, but it’s nice to have it coming together. And yeah, I totally related to that tweet as soon as I saw it. How often we forget. Lol!
Karla Gomez (@KarlaMGomezM)
Awwe 🙂 Thanks for the shout out!
I’m glad you came up with a whole new world of awesomeness!
The pic is something we should all keep in mind. Not just in writing, but life in general. And that analogy is super true.
krystal jane
I’m so excited about it! Of course it would happen when I’m busy. 😛
So true that life is full of ups and downs. I keep looking at it, trying to figure out what bump I’m on in different aspects of my life. Lol!
Tonja Drecker (@TDrecker)
Yay for reviving those characters! One of the WIPs I’m working on right now, came out of a fusion. I didn’t think the 2 had anything in common, but that’s kind of what is making the plot so much fun. Can’t wait to see where this takes you 🙂
krystal jane
Yay! ^_^
It IS fun! I’m surprised (and over the moon) by how many aspects of both stories I’ve been able to merge into the new plot. Plus all the new stuff. ^_^
Jodi
How cool that you found a home for all those little nomads running around in your brain! Yay!
That graphic could not be more true.
krystal jane
^_^ I’m getting my notes together for it this weekend. As soon as I get the POV sorted out, I think I might try drafting a chapter or two and seeing how it feels. 🙂
I’m wondering if I should print the graphic out and paste it on my wall…