Dearest Readers,
Short Story Saturday resumes this week when Part II of One Plus One Equals Three is released. For those of you who enjoyed meeting Daniella, Nicole and Brady in Part I, you will equally enjoy Part II. For those of you who have not the pleasure, consider reading the preview and then subscribing to read the whole thing. One Plus One Equals Three is a funny, thoughtful story and will be a (very) naughty story before we are done because funny, thoughtful and naughty is what you expect from me.
Some of you have asked if the entire story has been written, or is it being written as we go along. A bit of both, actually. The entire story has not been written. The entire story, however, has been planned. Scenes and dialogue for the entire story, mostly stemming from when the inspiration for the story first hit, have been written and I more or less know the journey I want my characters to take you on. It has to be that way, too, if you ask me because if you’re just writing to see what comes up next you’re not writing you’re typing. Like everything else, there must be a plan.
But I’ve found the plan can’t be too detailed. Characters are not fixed, rigid creatures and as you delve into a story the plan you had for them may or may not be the paths the characters want to take. A writer must be open to this.
An example of a time I was not open to this was the first writing of The Angel and The Captain. I knew exactly where this story was going to go and the characters were going to go there, dammit, come hell or high water. The results were a disaster, something utterly unreadable. I was so frustrated with myself I put the book aside for what turned out to be over a year. When I came back to it I was completely open to the journey the characters wanted to take, within the context of my overall plan for the story. The result was a story that was a treat to write and a funny, thoughtful, delightfully naughty story to read.
Characters must be allowed to grow, just like us humans must be allowed to grow. Characters are very interesting people and you must let them tell the story they are meant to tell. A writer can’t force matters. This is exactly what Daniella, Nicole and Brady are doing. I know you’ll love the results.
xoxoxo
Kaitlyn K