There’s been a lot of second guessing (dozenth guessing?) and restarting. A lot of questioning and deciding and hemming and hawing and mind changing. I have whined and moaned and whined some more about what I was going to do and how I was going to do it. A lot of things felt sort of right and nothing felt completely right. I was psyching myself out, making things more difficult then they needed to be. As per usual.
So yeah, I started writing Hearts and Hazelnuts and then…it fizzed out. I didn’t write anything more for weeks.
It was kind of a hot mess. Not gonna lie. Okay, not it. Me. I was a hot mess. I get into my head and things get difficult. I make them difficult. I worry about things I don’t need to worry about and I block my own creativeness.
But finally, I got over the wall.
What’s changed? Well, I started writing this one in third person. It’s not something I usually do. I have done it. Flash fics in particular, but a couple of shelved books too. I love first person a lot. I love reading it and I love writing it. And because I saw things clearly from both MC’s POVs, I was going to try my hand at alternating first for this one. But that was one of the things that wasn’t quite right, wasn’t’ quite working. And so I was at a loss.
In the end, I thought what the hell. Give it a go in third and see what happens. And it’s working. I’m actually making progress! Check the word meter. Those are all words I wrote this past weekend. And I’m enjoying it. It’s definitely taking a shift in my thought process, but it’s working and I love these guys all over again.
The next book on my docket needs to be in third as well. That one also has a publisher deadline, and since it’s for a specific line, I don’t have a choice for the tense. Which is fine, because I enjoy the crap out of that too. Maybe it’s not my preferred tense, but it definitely adds something to the story.
Will I switch to third permanently? No, I don’t think so. I love first person narratives too much. But now I’m a lot more comfortable writing in the tense that the story calls for. Hearts and Hazelnuts calls for it. Ghostwalker does too. And who knows what else will in the future.
But finally, after a very rough start, I’m making progress. And I’m loving it.
Kris T. Bethke--Author of M/M Romance 