So it’s been a couple of months since we last updated this. Because this is the joy of being a writer, you think you have things sorted and in place and then one (or a couple) of your characters throw you for a loop. As a writer, you like to think that you’re in control of your story and you know how it’s going to pan out and how it’s going to end. And sometimes that goes according to plan – more often than not? You have these pesky characters that want to do what they want to do and if you don’t do them? They refuse to work! Yep, as writers we love to delude ourselves that we’re in control … but sometimes we have to admit defeat and go where our characters take us. Which, to be honest, is 99% of the time!
And that’s what happened to us. Our world got turned upside down (almost literally!) when we had to start from scratch in re-creating our world which has been good for us to get all those little niggly details finally sorted. And then, of course, the moment one of our long term ‘good guys’ decided that actually, he wasn’t a good guy, never really had been a good guy … and we had to review everything all over again! And okay, so our reviewing and such isn’t ever finished, but it is nice to delude yourself for a couple of days that everything is in place and none of your characters are going to do anything too drastic.
But that’s the lesson we’ve learned over the years. It doesn’t matter how in control you think you are, something will happen. One of your characters will suddenly announce that they’re a villain, or the person that they were in love with they never have been and you’re forced to look at things all over again. Sometimes it’s incredibly frustrating, but then you see the light at the end of the tunnel and how things are forming and slotting into place. Then there are words going onto paper and it’s somehow flowing a lot better and writing a lot easier than it has done before.
So that’s what we’ve been at. Editing. Reviewing. Re-writing. Re-creating. And being reminded that we’re just writers, we have no control over our characters and what they want to do! We have a plan in place now, let’s just hope we don’t have any more surprises that throw us for a loop!
Charlotte and Clara 