Happy Insecure Writers Support Group Day. IWSG is the brainchild of Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Thanks, Alex, for starting this group and keeping it going.
Thanks to this month's awesome hosts: Renee Scattergood, Sadira Stone, Jacqui Murray, Tamara Narayan, and LG Keltner!
This month's question: Has your writing ever taken you by surprise?
Although
I’ve been surprised by things that pop in my head while writing, nothing hit me
as hard as when I was writing the last book in my science fiction romance Switched
series, Switched Resolution. The premise of the series is twins separated
before birth by an unethical, alien scientist. One is raised on Earth,
the other on an alien planet. As adults, they find each other and switch places.
In this book, I knew Marcus, would meet his biological mother for the first
time. She knows immediately he’s not his twin (whom she raised). When I wrote she
touched his face, I started crying. I was so overwhelmed by what she must be
feeling. As a mother, I must have put myself in her place, reunited with a
long-long child. She’d known instinctively that part of her was missing when
she was pregnant. The doctors and her husband had dismissed her anxiety as
hormonal emotions. At last, she has the answers.
A few years later, I reread
that passage, and it still got to me. I choked up again. I never expected to
feel that strongly about something I’d written. It hasn’t happened again. Yet.
Actions
have consequences as Space Fleet Captain Marcus Viator and NASA reject Scott
Cherella discover when they switch places. Switched Resolution, which wraps up
the Switched series, takes the reader
from Earth—where Marcus adjusts to a pregnant Jessie—to the starship Freedom hijacked by rebels, to the chase
ship with Scott and Veronese aboard.
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Check out our latest anthology contest.
Guidelines and rules:
Word count: 3500-5000
Genre: Middle Grade Historical – Adventure/Fantasy
Theme: Voyagers
Submissions accepted: May 1 - September 4, 2019
How to enter: Send your polished, formatted (double-spaced, no footers or headers), previously unpublished story to admin @insecurewriterssupportgroup.
Word count: 3500-5000
Genre: Middle Grade Historical – Adventure/Fantasy
Theme: Voyagers
Submissions accepted: May 1 - September 4, 2019
How to enter: Send your polished, formatted (double-spaced, no footers or headers), previously unpublished story to admin @insecurewriterssupportgroup.
Click here to find others on the Insecure Writers Support Group Blog Hop. Or go to IWSG on Facebook to see who’s blogging today.
When your writing chokes you up like that you know you've struck gold. I'm getting a little teary eyed just reading about it. :)
ReplyDeleteCheers - Ellen
Awww. Thanks, Ellen. I've been affected like that by other writers, never myself. It was such a surprise.
DeleteI got a little choked up reading about the scene! Very powerfu stuff, Diane!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Jemi. Have a great writing month.
DeleteReading that part of the book was an emotional moment for me too. Loved the series.
ReplyDeleteThanks for telling me, Patty.
DeleteHi Diane, your book Switched Resolution sounds super. I love the concept a lot.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rachna.
DeleteWhat an interesting premise! I love stories about twins. And I love to see characters switch places. Super idea!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jennifer. Now that I have twin grandson (not identical), I'm even more fascinated by twins.
DeleteI just experienced that feeling of being choked up by something I wrote. It's a surprising thing for sure, but also affirming that you've hit the right notes with the emotion. Your story sounds interesting. A much different take on an old trope. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Meka. Linda Howard's Cry No More gets me every time I read it. Bawl my eyes out.
DeleteThat does sound like a very touching scene. I'll admit to sniffling when writing the death of a beloved character, as well as a scene in which a mother and daughter reconcile after years of bitter resentment. I hope my readers will feel the same way. Happy writing in August!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sadira. I've never killed off a beloved character. Yet. lol Reconciliation scenes get to me. I'm sure your readers will feel it, too.
DeleteNice work! I know I've hit it out of the park when I respond like that. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnna from elements of emaginette
Thanks, Anna. I always hope readers will respond emotionally.
DeleteI love it when characters can make me cry, laugh, feel anxious, or a host of other feelings, because if our characters can do that to me/us, who created them, those characters will do the same to our readers, Well done, Diane. Another great post!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Diana. You hit it right on. If we don't feel something, how can our readers?
DeleteThere's a scene in one of my books where a main character dies. It's still hard to read that passage.
ReplyDeleteThat would be hard to take. I've killed off bad guys/gals but never a loved one. Thanks for all your work with IWSG.
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI understand so clearly your reaction. You were able to emerge into that character and feel what she felt and put it on paper.
All the best.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat G @ EverythingMustChange
Thanks, Pat. I hope the readers can do the same.
DeleteHow great to have your own words evoke such an emotional response.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lee. I hope my readers experienced the same.
DeleteSounds like an emotional scene that resonates.
ReplyDeleteI hope so, Yvonne. Thanks.
DeleteI'm sure you'll have the same reaction to your work again, Diane. I came across some of my work, thought someone else must have written it, searched for the 'source' and was afraid to use it incase I was accused of 'plagiarism' !
ReplyDeleteWow. That's amazing.
DeleteThat does sound like an emotional scene. And it sounds like you are totally into your story and experiencing it emotionally.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right, Natalie. I was totally into that story. A great feeling.
DeleteI think it's so tough for our own writing to give us that kind of reaction because we see it coming long before we actually write the words. You must have done a terrific job with that moment.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sarah. I didn't think I'd feel so strongly at that moment in the story.
DeleteWow that would be a surprise!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book
Good luck and God's blessings
PamT
Thanks so much, Pam.
DeleteI love it when that happens in a book - whether I'm writing it or reading it - the characters just grab your emotions as if they were sitting there next to you.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nancy. I love surprises. Maybe I'm getting jaded, but it's a rare story that truly surprises me. The emotions, though, really get me.
DeleteHow interesting - twins switched. I have relatives who are identical twins. No evil scientists were involved, but when they were young, they often switched places to get each other out of trouble at school and the like.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny, Olga. I have almost-2-yr-old twins and I can see them trying that. Too bad they don't look alike. lol
DeleteI am always pleased with myself when an evocative scene I write affects me too.
ReplyDeleteWe just hope our readers respond the same way.
DeleteThat sounds like a very powerful scene. I try to put at least one scene in a book that chokes me up but the ones between child and parent hit me hardest.
ReplyDeleteThat is so great, Susan.
DeleteThat sounds like a wonderful and deeply touching scene.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Shannon.
DeleteMy first novel involved a kidnapping. The scene where the mom gets her daughter back choked me up as well back in the day.
ReplyDeleteThat would be such an emotional scene.
DeleteSounds like a wonderful premise, and for you to be surprised at getting such a reaction shows you did a great job.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nick. I appreciate that.
Delete