Sometimes my stories start with a picture in my head. A scene that I can so vividly imagine it will take nothing to write it out. The book I’m working on now started out like that. A picture of a girl, wearing a dress, long hair flowing in the wind, walking along the side of the highway carrying a guitar. Okay. I needed to find out why she was doing this and how she got there and where she was going.
I had a hero who picked her up. He was a straight-laced kind of guy. Toed the line. He had a job to do and he was going to do it well. My heroine was a flighty kind of girl.
As I dug deeper I found out that she had two sisters who were classically trained violinists. She never felt that she measured up to them. She has always been trying to please her father and her mother. Who were also classically trained musicians. My hero is a rancher, and the heroine is supposed to be working at the ranch. So I need to do the job for her to do. How about she’s a nurse’s aide, and she’s come to help the hero’s father? But why is she living this erratic life? She probably had some deep sorrow in her past, that she is trying to out run. Maybe some guilt?
So I’m slowly fleshing out this character, adding things, subtracting things, but the one constant was the guitar. I couldn’t seem to get that initial picture out of my head.
But why would a classically trained guitarist become a nurse’s aide? And how does that fit into the story? I came to the conclusion, that she had a husband. This husband died somehow. I wanted her afraid of horses, because I wanted a scene where the hero’s brother teaches her to ride. The hero and the brother have been at odds ever since they fought over a girl they both like. So when the hero finds out that is brother is teaching the girl he’s come to care for how to ride, this causes a huge problem.
But what about the guitar? How does that fit in with all of this? It was slowly becoming less and less a part of her journey at all.
But the picture!!!
With a sigh I set the guitar aside, realizing it wasn’t fitting. I was trying to shoehorn it in because I couldn’t let go. I did some more outlining and then I started writing the story. Opening scene, zoom in on hero driving his truck, talking to his father, sees a girl on the side of the road……
With a guitar case!
Well, I gave in I just couldn’t seem to get rid of that silly guitar. What I did let go of, however, was her reason for coming to the ranch. The father suddenly didn’t need help anymore. He was perfectly healthy. My heroine wasn’t a nurse’s aid anymore either. Instead, I came up with another reason she ends up staying. And the reason is…..triplets. For now. We’ll see once I get that far whether they stay or not. Or get reduced to twins. One thing I do know, the guitar will figure in the story with them somehow.
In February I have a new book coming out, Courting the Cowboy which also had elements I let go of and brought back in but then changed something else. I had a pair of matchmaking parents – her mom, his dad. But I couldn’t get the mom to co-operate. Then I was going to get the mom of the heroine and the father of the hero together. I realized I was trying to push things into a place they didn’t belong. So I had to let go of those elements.
As we writers work on our stories, we need to know not only what to put in our story but what to take out.
Even if some things keep coming back.
Courting the Cowboy is the first of the Cowboy’s of Cedar Ridge Series and is out in February from Love Inspired.
If you want to know more about my releases and when I have books coming out, you can check out my website at www.carolyneaarsen.com
Carolyne Aarsen, originally a city girl, was transplanted to the country when she married her dear husband Richard. While raising four children, foster children, and various animals Carolyne’s résumé gained some unique entries. Growing a garden, sewing blue jeans, baking, pickling and preserving. She learned how to handle cows, drive tractors, snow machines, ride a horse, and train a colt. Somewhere in all this she learned to write. Her first novel sold in 1997 and since then has sold almost fifty novels to three different publishers. Her stories show a love of open spaces, the fellowship of her Christian community and the gift God has given us in Christ.
I love to read how one little spark of an idea can turn into a book. Being a visual person, I also like to use photographs when I’m brainstorming a new story. Thanks for sharing, Carolyne! Congratulations on your latest release.
I love a good cowboy romance…and a handsome cover!
Thanks for sharing. Congrats on your latest release. Merry Christmas.
Loved this post of how a story gets started, and restarted. Thanks for sharing. This sounds like a great book! Can’t wait to see how it turns out!
Thanks for sharing your thought processes on a story. Fascinating.
I think all my stories start with a picture. A snippet of a scene! And thanks Jill for the congrats!
Wow you guys are up early for this westerner! Thanks Kelly. Love Inspired has done a great job of covers for me lately. I’ve been pretty pleased. Though I have to give fair warning, I explicitly stated that this book took place in the spring and …… I got snow on the cover. Oh well. These things happen.
Hey Renate, and a Merry Christmas to you too! Thanks so much.
Hey Sally, I’m working on it now and things are changing even after I wrote this post. Hero got both his parents back and I’m thinking some triplets might show up….we’ll see. I usually plot pretty carefully but this story keeps taking off on me and I like to let that happen sometimes.
Greetings Merrillee, they don’t use the words Work In Progress for nothing. Like I told Sally, things seem to be switching up. This story has really been a study in letting the story go where it will naturally flow.
Thanks for sharing how you brainstorm! Love the cover! Merry Christmas!
Love getting a peek into the inner workings of juggling a story line until everything falls into place. Thanks for sharing. Can’t believe you’ve written nearly 50 books – WOW! Unfortunately, I’ve never read one of your books. That will have to change!
Thanks Beth! I love the cover too. In spite of the snow – that wasn’t supposed to be there. But hey, the guy looks kind of intriguing. And a blessed Christmas to you too!
He he, this made me chuckle, Carolyne! I often start with a single very visual mental image too. Which often doesn’t fit at all as the story grows and evolves. Learning to trust that process for me is a great metaphor for trusting God with my life. LOL, like He’s teaching me AGAIN, right now! Happy Christmas!
I felt the resonation as I read your post. I’m so much of a pantser I feel like I try on and discard story ideas the way a model changes outfits for the catwalk. I can’t wait to hear where this story takes you!
Hey Jan, thanks for stopping by. I sure hope you have a chance to read one of my books. Actually, (shameless plug here) if you go to my website you can get a free copy of my first book for signing up to my newsletter! That will get you started. Plus you can find out about my most recent books.
I’m a visual person, Autumn. I start with pictures. Usually I have a much clearer idea of how a story will go but this one eluded me so I thought I’d start and see what happened. Very unusual for me! And a happy Christmas to you too!
Thing is, Val, I usually have a pretty good idea of what I want my character’s arc to be and what they can do at the end of the story that they can’t at the beginning. Plus I need a Black Moment that will attack their wound. With this story, I still have that in place, I’m just not sure of which original elements I’m keeping. In fact the classical background for my heroine is slowly fading away as well……sigh. I’ve been learning to hold my story loosely and to trust my storytelling instincts.
Great analogy for the writing process! My Writing students often had difficult writing assignments, because they wanted to write a perfect paper. I would tell them write down ideas – then change or discard or start over with something new! Wished I could have shared some of these blogs! That is the way I write book reviews! Write what comes to mind and change, reword! Writing is a work on progress.
Great post, Carolyne! It’s encouraging to know I’m not the only one who has these snippets of plots and characters that come and go as the story is transformed. Thanks for sharing a behind-the-scenes look at your creative process. Love that book cover, too.
Thanks for this Renate. I know I’ve had to let go of the idea of perfection. I always like what Nora Robert said. You can edit a badly written page but you can’t edit a blank page.
Thanks Heidi! I love the cover too. And the creative process is exactly that. A process. I’ve had to learn not to get too married to ideas because I try too hard to shoe-horn them into a story where they might not fit. I still plot, absolutely, that’s my process, but I have learned to let to hold the story a bit more loosely. And some stories come more easily than others. That’s just the reality of writing.
Sounds like Alberta weather!!! I must admit, when I’m reading your books I go to the cover and try to picture them in the story. Sometimes they fit my imagination and other times I have different visions of what these people look like, lol ?
Thanks for sharing your thought process. I really wonder every once in a while how things fit in a story and this book clearly shows how they don’t always fit well at first, but they come together in the end. I’m looking forward to read it.
Very interesting post! Thanks for sharing. It’s fun to see behind the scenes in a writer’s life and also in the creation of a book.
Thinking about the girl with the guitar – my granddaughter loves to play guitar and sing. She mostly does it because she enjoys it. It’s a comfort for her. She likes to perform, but she’s not an expert and she’s not trained – she taught herself starting at the age of 12. The guitar is a friendly tag-a-long. Maybe the girl in your story just likes to connect with her guitar and occasionally play for others. Maybe she had been to the library (or church camp) doing a sing-a-long with the little kids.
Thanks for sharing, and when time permits, come check out what we’re doing over at SayspireQuotes, http://sayspirequotes.com.