I have the maddening process that I go through on every novel. I find my character and place her in the proper setting. Then I let them wander and see where they take me. Inevitably, I find that 20 pages later, they've taken me some place I never wanted to be. In every book I've written, there are early scenes that no one has ever read. This used to result in lots of swearing on my part, or the punching of computer screen monitors...but I've long since gotten used to the fact that this is how I write. I adapt. I'm not a caveman, after all. No need for punching things.
My newest character led me to this place yesterday. I looked over the first two chapters and thought to myself, this wasn't the book I wanted to write. It wasn't bad. I thought the writing was fairly good. But it wasn't the book I wanted to bring to life. So...it was time to sit and comb through the forest of notes again and find a new path for her to skip along.
After a long day of frustration and thinking, I finally sat down in the evening and began to move forward. I'm happy to say, I now have a clear path...a path that should lead me to the place I want to go. No sense ending up in Kentucky if you're aiming for Kansas, if you know what I mean. Just have to keep the leash a little tighter this time around.
I don't believe you would call that wandering, but creativity, and you abound in that. Share the wealth, mine is always stifled. In the end your compass takes you exactly where you want to go...Love your books...I have to tell you Wuthering Heights was my favorite book of all time, I have an old hardback copy of it. A gift Brianna will receive one day. Your remake did it justice...
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