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When Characters Don’t Do As They're Told.
I’ve
learned a lot about myself while writing. One of the big lessons, and possibly
the hardest, is that I am not in control. As an author this lesson is pretty
much drilled into you from the beginning.
Once
you’ve signed over your baby to a publisher you’ve pretty much given up any semblance
of control.
Cover control: Ha, think again.
Title control: You’re crazy. (Though, I’ve been fortunate
to title all my books, I don’t expect that trend to continue.)
Editorial control: Pick your battles.
But
the one thing I thought I had a handle on, the one creative piece that really
truly was my own, was just another thing I didn’t have control over—“The Story”.
When
I first started to write there was a heady power in making these characters do
what I wanted. Act a certain way. Do certain things. I believed and quoted my
mother often. “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.”
Fast
forward to my third book. I started writing Hustlin’ Texas years
before it was published. It was one of those books that just dragged on and on.
It felt as if each chapter was a hardship. Some books are just like that. Nikki,
the heroine in Hustlin’ Texas, was clear to me. Her voice rang very true. I
totally got the smart aleck-screw-you attitude that she wore like a super hero’s
cape. (There’s a possibility that her character hits a little too close to
home.)
The
problem came in the form of feedback from my then agent and crit partner. Nikki
was too harsh. She wasn’t likable. The self-depreciating humor was a turn off. How
could anyone relate to her?
The
suggestion was to go back and make her more likable.
Great.
Good suggestion. I am all about what I need to do to make my story better. As
my good friend, Erin Kellison, says “There is no ego in publishing.”
She’s
right. So I went back to “fix” what was wrong. The problem was Nikki kept
coming out the same way. More smart-mouth. More attitude. And way more issues.
I started the beginning of Hustlin’ Texas over three times with
no better results. I finally put the book aside and admitted to myself that I
couldn’t write a contemporary romance. A few months later my agent called and
asked me where the story was.
Umm…ahhh…not
finished. I had stopped writing because I feared that I didn’t know how to
write what the contemporary romance market wanted. My then agent wasn’t
impressed.
Between
there and here there were some long twisting events that eventually led me to
submit Hustlin’ Texas to my editor with Nikki in all her original
glory.
The
fact was the more I tried to change, or lead, the story a certain way the worse
the story got. The conflict got lost, and I got bored. As I write this I wish I
could say I’ve learned my lesson. That I learned to stop trying to force things
and got out of my own way.
Um…I
haven’t.
The
next book in the series has officially taken the cake as the hardest book to
write. I got mired in the same problem. I listened to others opinions about the
story before I had it firmly in my head. I tried to change the story, control
it, but as we all know that doesn’t work.
I
think the biggest lesson is we aren’t in control. Sometimes we have to trust
the process. Sometimes, ok for me most of the time, I’ve got to let go. There’s
something about the charged energy a writer gets when they stop creating and
just start being the vehicle that gives the story life.
I
found I like the thought of control more than I’d realized, but I like a
finished manuscript even better.
I
hope you like Jett and Nikki’s story. I like to blame my first gray hair on Hustlin’
Texas, but for my readers I just hope they have a few enjoyable hours.
Thanks
for letting me stop by, and please leave a comment to enter to win an e-copy of
Hustlin’
Texas.
Enjoy
the excerpt.
Excerpt
Jett
nodded, then glanced around the crowded bar. When he turned his gaze back on
her, a person would be hard pressed to describe his eyes as anything sweet or
candy like. “I was hoping you’d be up for a little game of nine-ball.”
Nikki
took a sip from her beer and raised her brow in question. Nine-ball was the
hustler’s game. It was short and quick, without all the rules of straight pool.
He
nodded his head toward the tables in the back. “I heard you played.”
“Then
you heard wrong.” She took another sip, eying him the whole time. “I’ve given
it up for Lent.”
The
corner of his mouth hinted at a smile. “Found God, have you?”
“Among
other things.”
Jett
glanced to the tables, then back to her. “One game. No money.”
Nikki
shook her head. “I don’t play for fun. No thrill in it.”
He
swallowed, and she could see his jaw work. “Then we’ll play for a favor. A
debt. You up for a little more red in your ledger?”
She
didn’t want to ask, not really, but gambling was too deep in her blood not to
hear the stakes. “What’s the favor?”
He
smiled, not the golden boy smile she’d come to know, but instead one that
lacked any charm at all. “Well, Texas, that’s the thrill part. You don’t know
until the end. Anything goes. No boundaries.”
Her
heart did a funky jump-start in her chest at the possibilities, but her game
face was ice-cold. “No limits?”
“None.
Unless that’s too much heat for you? We could place some ground rules if you
want to play it safe.”
Nikki
knew what Jett was doing. It was so obvious, and yet, there was that achingly
familiar thrill that zipped up her spine and buzzed in her blood. Some families
were predisposed toward red hair or near-sightedness. The Logans were addicts.
Throw a dart at the family tree and you’d hit a vice—drinking, smoking,
shopping. You name it, and the Logans could turn anything into a compulsion.
But really, under all the addictions, there was only one. One vice that was as
indicative of a Logan as dark hair, brown skin, and blue eyes.
It
was very basic, really. The Logans were gamblers.
There
were stories as far back as her grandfather, if stories in the Logan family
could be believed, who won his first car—a 1950 Cadillac—on the toss of a coin.
Then there was her father, Dakota, who’d bet on every sports game invented, and
even ones that hadn’t, like golf without clubs. Her father had once bet a
hundred dollars on his ability to throw a golf ball through the eighteen holes.
Legend had it, he’d won that hundred, but lost the money in the same night in
an “I can piss into a can from the second story” contest.
So
Jett knew what he was doing. And Nikki was smart enough to know this was more
than a simple favor and way more than a simple game of pool. She also knew
something else. Jett was no match for her in this game.
She
hid her smile with a sip of her drink. The thrill of a “sure thing” was headier
than any shot of tequila, more exciting than a leather-jacketed man on a
motorcycle.
“Oh,
I can take the heat,” she said.
“But
can you handle this much heat?”
“Oh,
I can handle it. Because we both know I can beat you with one hand tied behind
my back and blindfolded.”
His
eyebrows arched. “Then you’d best start figuring out what your favor will be.”
Nikki
put down her bottle, no longer needing the buzz. “Already have.” Her car
fixed…for starters. “You really think you can beat me at pool?”
God,
he was so cocky. It was almost tragic.
His
eyes narrowed and there was absolutely no humor in his voice when he spoke.
“Oh, I’m betting on it.”
Buy
links for Hustlin’ Texas:
Barns
and Nobel: http://kckleinbooks.com/BNHustlinTexas
About KC:
KC Klein has lived most of her life
with her head in the clouds and her nose buried in a book. She did stop reading
long enough to make a home with a real life hero, her husband, for over sixteen
years. A mother of two children, she spends her time slaying dragons, saving
princesses, and championing the belief in the happily-ever-after. Her debut
novel, Dark Future, is a finalist in the 2012 Prism contest and
has been honored with a reviewer’s choice award. Her other titles include a
sci- fi, 2012 RONE award winning romance anthology, Hotter on the Edge, and the first two books in her Texas Fever
contemporary romance series, Texas Wide
Open, and Hustlin’ Texas. KC
loves to hear from readers and can be found desperately pounding away on her
laptop in yoga pants and leopard slippers or more conveniently at www.kckleinbooks.com.
Twitter: @kckleinbooks
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorKCKlein
Amazon Author page: http://kckleinbooks.com/AmazonAuthorPage
And
don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance to win Hustlin’ Texas.
Very nice excerpt
ReplyDeletebn100candg at hotmail dot com
Thank you. I hope you enjoy the rest as well. :)
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