Intro:
Pau’s Castles is a website that has a special place in my heart. I first met Pau across the blogosphere when I asked her to read The Timely Death Trilogy. Her reviewing style blew me away, and we ended up chatting—and never stopping. Her friendship is something I continue to cherish. Pau is a writer and an avid book reviewer, and I know you all will enjoy her blog as much as I do. She’s cheerful, insightful, and passionate—and today’s topic covers all of those emotions. If you’re a writer, you have probably written a story, then walked away, then came back, then walked away again, and then came back again. It happens all too often. And we wonder why we keep returning. Is it worth it? Well, I’ll let Pau explain that, but I will say this: I have been trying to rewrite and re-release my first published novel, November Snow, for eight years now. I understand leaving and coming back and leaving and coming back. This topic is something Pau and I have discussed in great depth before. Writing a novel is never going to be the same for everyone, and as an author, I know writing one novel isn’t going to be like writing another novel. (Writing The Timely Death Trilogy wasn’t like writing November Snow.) I believe leaving and coming back is significant, and Pau explains it beautifully. Please visit Pau’s Castles. She’s a wonderful writer well worth knowing!
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Never Give Up On An Idea by Pau’s Castles
(On the photo: Lucky Blue Smith and Pyper America Smith)
The reason why I’m using this photo is because these two models are my character references for Lucian and Luna (originally named Danae, but the name didn’t seem right) Malliarch—two of my leads in a current work-in-progress called Between Two Worlds.
Between Two Worlds started out as an idea back in 2013. Initially, the title was Attachment, which didn’t feel right at the time so it took a turn to being called Samantha’s Diary, but eventually, that didn’t feel right too, so now it is finally called Between Two Worlds. As you can see, I have already changed a character’s name once and the title had been changed twice. My point in saying all this is that if you have an idea, which does not seem to rest, don’t let it rest! Since I started with the idea for Between Two Worlds, I had two other story ideas. One even reached so much research and conceptualizing, but everything didn’t seem to fit in. The characters of Between Two Worlds were screaming in my head, telling me to finish their story first.
So what’s the good thing about not giving up on an idea?
1. You get to know more things every single time you try to write about it again
The original piece for Between Two Worlds was very different from how it is now. I never actually finished the original one because I did not know how to end it at the time which makes not giving up on the idea even greater. Eventually I discovered a lot of things which can help on the major points of the plot so it led me to a perfect (for now) ending.
2. The smaller details cascade in the thought process
When an idea is fresh, we’re all excited to write about it. We’re all excited for the big stuff to happen that we fail to recognize the importance of the smaller details. For example, there’s this scene on the novel about a fork road. On the first time I wrote it, the fork road was just an insignificant path on the forest. Now that I’m writing in the third time around, the fork road suddenly had a back story which is significant to the characters.
3. The characters are easier to write about
Sometimes, not giving up on an idea makes us know about our characters on a deeper level. Sometimes we discover things which didn’t seem right on the first times we wrote about them. My example on my work here is Danae Malliarch, now known as Luna Malliarch. I felt quite detached to her because there was something off about her name back then, but it never occurred to me what it was. It turned out that I have a personal admiration to the name “Danae” but it didn’t fit the personality of character. Now that she’s named Luna, it sounds a lot catchier next to her brother’s name — Lucian.
4. The plot is easier to write about
This is simply because you already know the general flow of events. Maybe you can just add a few more scenes to not make the pace too fast (but be careful! It might get too draggy. Remember to include only the necessary ones to the plot) but other than that, you know where it’s going.
5. You find out the reason why you never gave up on it in the first place
A friend who’s currently doing Lucian Malliarch’s digital painting told me, “Pau, Lucian is a lovely character. I don’t see him as a character stuck in your laptop. Instead, I see him as a character people would know and love.”
Personally, I don’t know the reason yet as to why I never gave up on the idea surrounding Between Two Worlds, but I am excited to find out. Hopefully, you guys will get to read about it in the future.
Found this post helpful? Let me know what you think through the comments below or email me (pauscastles@gmail.com) if you have questions and suggestions for future writer-related posts!
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Connect with Pau:
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Want to be a guest blogger? I would love to have you on! I am accepting original posts that focus on reading and writing. A picture and a bio are encouraged. You do not have to be published. If you qualify, please email me at shannonathompson@aol.com.
~SAT
