When Good Ideas go Bad and Then Good Again

Our theme this month has been about how the best ideas can go bad and because this month has an extra Friday, I get to go again!

I’ve had my fair share of ‘The Best Book Idea Ever!’ turning into ‘What the Hell was I thinking??’. Sometimes it’s been the plot, sometimes the characters, even extenuating circumstances (aka real life) but, in reality, it’s all me. They’re my ideas and, whoa Nellie, if they don’t turn out then who can I blame but myself? But it's not the end of the world, or even the end of the story.

Here’s a “for instance.”

In early 2012 Ellora’s Cave put out their list of sub calls, one of which was for tattoo themed books. I came up with an idea for four linked fantasy books revolving around the Midnight Café, a tattoo parlor in the world beyond the Veil, where all the characters of myth and legends reside. They were to be short novellas, and I had just over a month to get them written. I could do it. I was sure of it. I told my family I’d be pretty much unavailable for the next six weeks and hunkered down.

Then, in February our son Tom was in a horrendous auto accident* and everything, of course, got shoved aside. Thank heavens although he was terribly hurt we were assured he would eventually make a full recovery. And despite not having much time, I found writing therapeutic and actually cranked out two of the three novellas I’d planned, Fleeing Fate and Stone-Hard Passion, and they were released as part of the Pricked series.

Fast forward to June and things have settled down. I pull out the outline for book three and decide to get on with it. The plot involves a dragon shifter and Lady Luck, who’s a Fey woman. I write, hit delete, write some more, delete some more. It’s like pulling teeth. By now I think I must have been on crack when I decided this story had legs. Then it stuck me…The Fey woman actually should be a Fey man…

HA! I won’t claim the book flowed, because I struggled to get it finished—real life again—but once I got that point worked out, I knew exactly how the book was to go and Dragon's Claim, book three in my Unveiled Seductions series came to life.

So, for me I’ve found sometimes it’s a matter of finding the stumbling block and tearing through it to turn a bad idea into something I can love.

*My son Tom’s accident was caused by his Type One Diabetes, which he’s had since he was four years old. In a rush to get to work one morning, running late, he fixed himself breakfast to go and jumped into his car. Unfortunately he didn’t eat quickly enough and his blood sugar dropped. He doesn’t remember anything about what happened next, but the end result was the accident.

They don’t know what causes Type One Diabetes and there is no cure. Every year the Brenda Novak Auction raises funds for research into Type One Diabetes and it is an awesome way to help, as well as get some wicked deals on all kinds of cool stuff. By the time you read this the auction may be over for this year (May 31^st is the last day) but if not, go and take a look and get a last minute deal. If it’s too late this year, make sure to check it out next year!