New Sparks

Yesterday, I rewrote the introductory scene between my hero and his crush. I showed it to my first reader, JV, and she gave it a thumbs down. She said it made Caitlyn too mean and why do I keep making her mean? Not the first instance I’ve had her say that. For some reason, while snark comes easy with Bix, when I try it with Caitlyn, I write bitchy.

So, I dropped JV off at the humane society and drove to Borders to kill time while she volunteered. As I drove I considered her critique. And as always, she was right. If I leave the original “meet” scene as is, the character seems as if she’s bipolar the next time he encounters her, but if I leave in the changes, the character’s a bitch. I knew I had to fix it, but how?

I drove and contemplated my choices and the answer hit me as I got closer to Borders, what if….don’t you love those words? I started thinking out the scenario and what changes it would entail. What if?

What if Caitlyn has an identical twin that Bix hasn’t officially met (or has he?) so Caitlyn isn’t bipolar so much as two different people.

I sat down with a coffee and a warm snickerdoodle and brainstormed at the Border’s Café.

I wrote the scene where he finds out and figured out how to drop a few hints earlier on. When I picked JV up, I read her the scene. And she loved it, so I think I’m back on track.

And this new character, Claire de loon, I really like her. She’s invigorating my story. Adding a new dimension I didn’t see coming. Love that. She's just the spark I needed.