Comments on: KISS

By: Julie Day

Julie Day — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:56:46 +0000

Pleased that you’ve worked it out and know what you are going to do about it now. I did the same a bit with my current book. Went off a bit and added a bit about another character (who gets to tell her story in the next book) and when revising realised I didn’t need it because it wasn’t about the main character so deleted it. Go with it now.

By: Julie

Julie — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:32:18 +0000

LOL Lacey, between you and me, we could probably make a fleet of reinvented cars!

Yes, Biddy, I know you’re in the planning stage. What some people who aren’t writers don’t understand is that having too many ideas is harder than not having enough!

Ahhh Michelle I’ll have to look out for Donna’s tree pruning. And you know, I really really REALLY think you need to put a chicken or two in this book of yours.

LOL Kate!

By: Kate Johnson

Kate Johnson — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:03:29 +0000

But the thing is, Kate, I *want* to know why the former sister-in-law wanted to be a dancer, and why she’s a former SIL, too!

Ah yes, that’s why I wrote the scene explaining it. And then cut it. And added one where the hero is talking to his ex-wife about why she’s burdened him with looking after her little sister, who doesn’t want to be there anyway, because…

By: Michelle Styles

Michelle Styles — Wed, 27 May 2009 10:49:01 +0000

Yes, it is all about complicating the major arc. I like Donna Alward’s tree pruning analogy.
But I saw KISS and immediatly thought of EWan and his chicken.

By: Biddy

Biddy — Wed, 27 May 2009 09:04:04 +0000

Oooo excellent advice and very timely! I have been thinking did I need to have more sub plots but actually I just need to work with the ones I have to make them more relevant… and actually I might need to lose one. Hmmm… we’ll see.

By: Lacey Devlin

Lacey Devlin — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:44:20 +0000

If anyone needs someone to make something simple extremely complicated I’m the girl for you! It’s an amazing ability really, I’ve always done it, basically I live life the hard way lol! I probably have a pile of invented wheels out of the back

By: Julie

Julie — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:50:53 +0000

But the thing is, Kate, I *want* to know why the former sister-in-law wanted to be a dancer, and why she’s a former SIL, too! This is another problem, writers are so damn curious! I just grilled a poor man about his near-death experience this evening. (Sorry, R., and thanks.) It is a special form of insanity that we have!!! Argh!!!!

The thing with KISS, Fran, is that it’s like smoking. You make things so much easier if you don’t start getting complicated (ie smoking) at the beginning. Once you’re entangled in the anti-simplicity, it’s so hard to cut it down to vitals (ie go cold turkey).

I wish they had the equivalent of nicotine gum for plotting.

By: Julie

Julie — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:47:13 +0000

Jan, those wheel-making tools just seem to come out every time I start a new book. Why?!?!

Sigh.

Kate, only another writer would see KISS and think about simplicity. Really, as a romance writer, I’d think you’d have a much, much dirtier mind.

By: Fran

Fran — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:30:35 +0000

Julie, I could KISS you! (In a very happily married woman kind of way) Bloody Zulu Dawn, has a smaller cast than some of the character lists I find myself plotting out. I shall now go and KISS.

By: Kate Johnson

Kate Johnson — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:18:28 +0000

I’ve done exactly the same thing–started out with a major cast of thousands, most of whom disappeared as I wrote or turned into minor characters, and as I redrafted, they got sidelined all the more. Yes, I know that the hero’s former sister-in-law wanted to be a dancer, but why on earth does the reader need to know it? Madness!