RIP, Wild Oats?

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So, I know I’ve been MIA for a while. (I see your eyes rolling and I hear you sarcastically mutter, “A while? You’ve been off the grid for about three months!”) Allow me to take a few moments to explain.

I’ve been having moments of personal reflection lately. And during this period, I wasn’t able to blog like I should. I felt that my direction was wrong, so I stopped rather than continue down the wrong path. In regards to my writing aspirations, I knew the talent was there, I tried to stay on top of industry knowledge, I set up my blog and social media accounts to build this platform. I even have a novel and novella under my belt. But it felt all my effort was for naught because every step forward I took, I got knocked back several. My novel’s release had been pushed back an embarrassing number of times. So, I took my issues to God and waited for an answer.

After some time, this is what was revealed to me about the novel:

“Be original. This story’s been told already.”

And I’m like, “Okay, but I’ve been working on this story for years! I’ve invested time and money on this novel. I have a cover for crying out loud. Do I just toss out all those years of work and go back to the drawing board?”

Again, “Be original.”

So, I thought about it further and I had to admit that my novel was feeling like a combo of a few of favorite TV shows: “Sex and the city”, “Girlfriends”, and “Single Ladies”.  I had identified chick-lit as the genre and my writing steered in that direction. So, if chick-lit isn’t my thing and all the themes that lie therein, then what should I be writing?

“Who said you had to be in a box? Be original.”

So what does it mean for the story “I” had deemed to be my breakout? I really don’t know. It hasn’t been revealed yet. But I recognize that “I” was trying to force it through.

As I continued to meditate, I realized that my proudest and most humbling moments are when something I’ve written has encouraged, motivated, empowered, or inspired someone. Perhaps with my novel, I have focused too much on the (mis)adventures of my MC, the jokes, the shoes, the drinking, and yes, the sex, instead of what the core of what the story was about. What initially motivated me to even write the story to begin with.  Healing a broken heart. Or, how do you mend a broken heart? (I know, that’s Al Green)

So, I find myself at an impasse. I can put this story in a vault, never to be seen or heard from again. Or just set it aside for awhile as I have a few other ideas that could not only entertain, but also do those aforementioned things and return to the story once it has been revealed how it shall be told. Or do I wait?

Decisions, decisions…but I think that just may have been my problem all this time. I felt the need to hurry and make a choice. So this time I won’t force it. I will be patient.

What’s in a Name?

I’m baaaack! Did ya miss me?

I took a week off from the blog and twitter, but life still carried on as normal, including having my rewritten chapter one workshopped in my creative writing course. Quick refresher: I scrapped my prologue and did a complete rewrite of it as chapter one. I only retained about five percent of the prologue. I took the feedback from the CMIYC blogfest under consideration as I rewrote it. I then turned in the completed chapter for critique in class. It was a bit nerve-wracking because outside of the first 500 words, it hadn’t been read by anyone else and I was submitting it to people who didn’t know me. Therefore, there was no holding back the truth.

I’m happy to state it went very well in class. One classmate wouldn’t stop talking about it. My instructor said it “worked for her”. She gave me wonderful feedback, said the voice was great and that she could really see this MC until the last few lines when I finally reveal the MC’s name (which was intentional). It was when the name was revealed she was given a shock because up until that point, she was convinced my MC was female. I gave my MC (who is female) a name that is generally a man’s name. She had to go back and reread parts of it to make sure the MC was indeed a woman. She stated that the core of the story can be applied to either gender so I had either written some awesome chick lit or have ventured off into LGBT fiction. Guess I have not only a great female voice, but a pretty fabulous homosexual man’s voice in my writing. All of this came out of the MC’s name. Let me tell you, the name choice was the last thing I expected to get such a strong reaction out of.

Side note: When our work is being critiqued, the writer is anonymous until the end. So, I’m trying to keep my poker face on, but I’m screaming in my head “Not a dude, not a dude, girl parts, girl parts!”

I have been working on my WIP for a long time, so of course I was attached to the name. But to witness such a strong reaction is an indicator that perhaps her name wasn’t a wise choice (It’s like American Idol, choosing the wrong song, despite how well you sing, can get you voted off) If the reaction hadn’t been so strong, I probably would’ve never considered it. But when a few of my classmates agreed with her, I saw that I needed to at least consider changing it. Character names can be as significant to the story as the plot and while I knew I could incorporate into the remainder of the story the reason behind her name (and also set up some good dialogue about having a man’s name), I didn’t want there to be doubt from chapter one as to her gender.

I presented my dilemma to a few friends. One was a writer friend and two were good non-writer friends of mine – one is an avid reader, the second represents my ideal audience. There was the suggestion that I add a middle name that was more feminine (which I already had), but all could see the potential problem with her current name. For me, names are very important and just as in life, that name can have a story or reason behind it.

So, if I were going to change her name, the following factors needed to be considered:

• It had to match her character — a young, educated, professional woman
• It needed to be a surname – the backstory being she was given her mothers maiden name as a first name and I didn’t want to change that.
• Since the MC’s first name is her mother’s maiden name, that name had to flow/sound good with the mother’s first name.
• It did need to keep an element of androgyny (for a reason to be revealed later in the story)

At the end of the day, it is my story and the decision about what I do with criticism/feedback is mine as the writer. Not all feedback is good feedback. I can take it or leave it. However, in this situation, it was a pretty critical element to the character herself and I had to let go of my attachment to the original name. Was I willing to cause confusion and potentially lose reader interest because of a first name? I decided I wasn’t and therefore I changed it. The name came to me as I was waking up the next morning and I immediately texted all three friends my selection. They all loved it and my MC’s name was officially changed. Confirmation comes in threes.

Want to meet my MC? Here she is: Kendall Nelson: The daughter of Deborah Kendall and John Nelson. She’s young, attractive, educated, independent, single, and has an appreciation of all things fine — food, alcohol, shoes, and men, but not necessarily in that order.