Creative Energies

I'm often asked where my stories come from and there is no single answer. Most of my stories are from very vivid dreams but the mystery is a major exception. Listening to Jay Asher, "Thrteen Reasons Why," at the SCBWI conference in Michigan, and I don't remember his exact words, he said the solution to a problem with his story came to him like a bolt of lightning, and I had to smile because literally, that's where the "High Point" story came from. It was during a thunderstorm at the Chautauqua workshops in New York and it literally came to me in less than ten minutes. I'm talking about plot, characters, and ending, all handed to me on a platter. Now, almost seven years later I'm still sruggling with it, although I haven't worked on it all the time. For the last few months, I've been working on the book from two different angles. The group has been so helpful with the first chapters I can't say thank you loud enough or often enough, but lurking in the background has been an ongoing problem with the middle chapters. Now, you can't have an arc without both ends and the middle and my arc has been looking more like a deflated souffle. Early this morning, it came to me that I was trying to make my protaganist and another key character, (sorry, he has to remain a secret,) too perfect. Wake up Warren, teens are not perfect. Hello! By allowing a character flaw to show, several chapters fall into place. Well almost anyway. I feel like one of the actors on the Windows 7 commercials. So for the time being, I have to do some plot line changes. For right now, I have to go get some more coffee. It's going to be a long day.