Not the Usual "Character"

I have been spending quite a bit of time recently reworking a manuscript that I wrote for National Novel Writing Month in 2005. That story took the full 30 days, and I wiped the sweat from my brow and claimed my 50,000 word prize the last day and didn't look back.

You see, I had run into a problem with the story. It was unfinished, mainly because I didn't know how to finish it. So I put it away to pick up after a period of time, hoping that time would give me perspective. Unfortunately the story was promptly forgotten, and only mentioned when I proudly told people "I've written a book-twice."

As I was dusting off these treasures last month (as mentioned in my last post), this story started begging for my attention. But even after a re-read (which I was surprisingly pleased with), I still found myself with the same problem. How did this story end?

I started doing some re-writing and added in a prologue that I thought helped frame up the beginning a bit better. I went through and added almost 5000 words to flesh out the introduction of my characters. But I was still scratching my head.

This past weekend I forced myself to sit down and address this issue. Either I was going to figure this story out, or I was going to have to go on to other projects. I really didn't want to do that because I can see the potential here. I did mind mapping and timelines, character descriptions, etc. and then I made myself write out in 25 words or less what my story was about.

Eureka. Part of my plot is that the main character has an otherwordly experience with a house. The house was a key part of my story, and was the major character that I had not addressed at all in my manuscript. Once I realized this, the ideas came fast and furious. I now knew the "why" behind certain things happening, and with that I was able to outline the ending in my head (which I am sure will change, but it's a start!). I added an additional 5000 words over the course of the rest of the weekend.

Then, just for fun, my family drove over to the neighborhood where my story takes place. It is a well-to-do area just outside of downtown Minneapolis. After passing dozens of different houses, my husband all of the sudden said "That is a spooky house". He had no idea what I was working on, other than a story set in this neighborhood. I promptly took a picture with my iPhone, and now have the picture saved as my desktop background. It is helping with my inspiration and keeping the creative juices flowing.

So from now on when my writing is becomes difficult, and the story just isn't hanging together, I'm going to be looking for those "characters" I may be missing.