Doesn’t that sound like a Celtic band? Valentine’s Day wouldn’t be as special without some Highlanders wearing kilts in the mix.

I reached 65,000 yesterday on Cougar’s Mate, disappointed that I hadn’t done more than that. I had hoped to dig in and write to 70,000. But I have a problem. When writing a story, we have to make sure that something doesn’t seem too contrived.

Oh, I know, I’m writing about humans who shift into cougars or wolves or jaguars. LOL

But still, heroes and heroines have to be smart. That’s why we root for them. It’s okay if they do rash and dumb things if they’re trying to protect someone who needs protecting. We can buy that. Motivation is always the key.

I’m still brainstorming with friends to come up with a good solution. Otherwise you will think, oh yeah, I know what’s going to happen next, and I don’t want you to. 🙂 That’s the whole fun of writing–the twists and turns, the unexpected shift, the journey.

When I was writing a YA (young adult) book, I read part of it to my daughter and asked, “What do you think is going to happen next?”

I had led her in one direction. There could be only one path to take. But I had a really, really neat different direction to turn in. The unexpected. She told me where she knew it was going. I smiled.

“Well, it is, isn’t it?”

“Nope.”

Not to be thwarted, she gave me three other ways I could go with it and I was like, YES!!!! I had come up with the perfect twist. It worked for the situation. And she’s a great reader, so if she couldn’t figure it out, I had it made.

I told her where I was going with it and this time she smiled. She’d never thought of it.

I’ve been told if you get stuck to write 20 ways the story could go. I find sometimes just brainstorming with someone else will help me to come up with an idea. One of my fans actually did help me in one thing. It had to do with one of the story elements that I had alluded to, but only as a passing thought. Just the mention of that one element helped me to strengthen the bad guys’ motivation. Would I have thought of it on my own? I might have during edits. But maybe not.

Off to work on the story and maybe something will come to me!

Have a super day! It’s supposed to be 71 here today. Unreal in Feb!

Happy Valentine’s Day from me to you!

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male!”
www.terryspear.com