Monday, January 25, 2010

Brainstorming by June Sproat

This past week I had the pleasure of dining with fellow Acme Author Margot Justes. Not only did we have a wonderful meal, but we had a great gab session. Writing is a very solitary occupation so when we get to chat it’s great.

I was stuck on my historical. I knew the basic plot. I had the hero’s conflict/problem, the heroine’s conflict/problem, the overall story plot, but how was I going to make it all work?

Yep, that’s right. I had a great idea; I started to expand on it and bam – brick wall! So I met with Margot, who’d read what I’d written so far and didn’t think it was awful. (Thanks again for that, Margot.) Here’s how the conversation went:

Margot: “So what’s the problem?”
Me: “I have no idea how the hero finds out the secrets.”
Margot: “Oh, yeah, so what are you going to do?”
Me: “I have no idea! That’s why we’re here.”
Margot: “Right. Do you want some bread?”

Okay, it wasn’t exactly like that, but we did talk about the book for about an hour and you know what? We figured it out. Between the two of us, tossing ideas back and forth, we figured how my hero learned the secrets from his family’s past. We also discovered two new characters that would assist with the plot. By the time I got home the characters that are living in my head were chattering so much I couldn’t sleep!! Now I just have to find the time to get it all down on paper.

We chatted about Margot’s next book too; A Hotel in Bath which I was allowed to read and it is fabulous. She also let me in on the third book in the series – she is so good at romantic suspense. I am so fortunate to have a friend like Margot. I couldn’t do it without you.

Brainstorming – it’s a great thing.

Thanks Margot and everyone else -- thanks for reading

Best
~June

www.junesproat.com

3 comments:

Terry Odell said...

Love brainstorming. Miss that the most when my live group broke up.

Morgan Mandel said...

Brainstorming is great. You may not agree with everything the other person mentions, but it can be a springboard to thinking up somnething you hadn't thought of before.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

PS I'm glad both you and Margot are my friends also. Glad you worked out your plot, June.

Rob Walker said...

Braainstorming like Rewriting is Writing in my book; I love to discuss my work in progress just because I know that talking aobut it will give me more impetus to follow through with it and get it done. It helps tremendously to get feedback, and if not live then with friends online. Remember the all night bull sessions in college?

Rob