Editor Gold (Again)
My editor is wonderful, a genius some might say. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again! So I’ve been chatting back and forth with her about The Greek, and what I wanted to do with the MS, what works, what doesn’t, that sort of thing. And she said some things to me that really led to another one of those ‘aha!’ moments.
So, it’s about the hero and the heroine above all else, that I (hope!) I’ve got now, but this was something that related to external conflict. External conflict is the thing that pushes your characters together, while the internal is, ultimately, what keeps them apart.
I had these two characters developed and had their internal conflicts, and I’ve been desperately searching for the external forces to push them together. Because let me tell you, their internal issues would have them running far and away from each other at this point.
So I had all these scenarios: Hostile business takeovers, a marriage of convenience, a chance meeting that may not be so chance-ish (not a word, but bear with me).
She pointed out to me that a bit (as in almost all) of my outline was focused on the external, which I felt was needed since I was struggling to find the action, the thing that would bring them together. She said I needed to find emotionally motivated reasons to bring them together.
Aha!
So here, from the very beginning of the MS, what I needed was something internal to push the external into motion. And interestingly, in this instance, the internal motivator of the hero will come into a direct clash with his ultimate internal conflict. He reacts emotionally, viscerally to a wrong committed against his sister, finds himself bound to my heroine as a result of his external reaction, and then, in the end, it brings up a host of other issues he hadn’t intended to deal with. Ever.
LOL! As much or as little as it makes sense when explained like this, it does to me. The internal and external don’t need to be exclusive from each other, in fact, I think it works best when they overlap, and even when certain aspects of a characters emotional drive, goals, internal issues, conflict with others that come up, and are challenged by their relationship to the other character.
Good luck decoding me with this one. 🙂
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Yay for editors! This is gonna be a great story, Maisey!
Yay for editors indeed! I’m starting to really love this MS, so I hope it all keeps going well from here!
You broke it down so well that even I, a will-not-plot pantser, understood. Which is pretty darn good, LOL
Jackie’s right. Sounds like it’s going to be a great story! 🙂
Hah, thanks, Cari, I kind of confused myself there. I used to be a total pantser, but three rewrites have cured me. 🙂 I’m a loose plotter. I have a few scenes in my head and the important elements (conflict, character) all set.
I think I understand! And now I’m trying to apply it to my mss and see if I’ve done okay – lol!!
LOL, Rach! You know, it’s not something I’ve given a lot of thought to analytically, even in my finished, accepted MSs. But I think that was largely due to the fact that I had the whole story down before my ed saw it, and in the rewrite, knowing the characters, that came sort of natural. But starting my first brand new MS since getting The Call was a bit daunting. And the breakdown really helped.
Sounds fascinating, can’t wait to be able to read the finished product and see what this hero’s issues are 🙂 He sounds tortured and scarred. Me like!
Oh, as always, issues upon issues. 🙂
Well all I could think is “I want this book”. Give it to me. You know you want to….
The fact that you haven’t finished writing it is a minor detail.
Lacey, that’s quite a compliment. 🙂 Yeah, one unpolished chapter and I’ve sold it to you, huh? LOL. You’re my new best friend! But I’m about to get stuck in to chapter two…needs coffee…