Didja Ever Have One of Those AHA Moments?

PattiTheWicked · Nov 5, 2007

I've been sort of piddling around with one of my works in progress, and had gotten frustrated with it because I just felt like it wasn't going where I wanted it to. I had put it aside for a while, trying to work out what to do with it.

So this weekend, I'm driving home from the Buckeye Book Fair -- two hours in car gives you lots of time to think -- and all of a sudden I had this epiphany.

Literally, like a ton of bricks, it hit me as to how to fix the story. I'm driving down I-71 screaming, "Of COURSE Avery isn't an accountant, she flips houses, and THAT'S how she meets the paranormal investigator guy, and ohmygod, I think Spider (a character from another ms) is HER ex-husband, holy crap, and then it turns out that the reason..."

I'm sure people driving past me were alarmed, but I felt really good. So I came home and got to work fixing my manuscript.

JoNightshade · Nov 5, 2007

I had one last night, while I was dreaming! I'm not sure if I'm going to do it or not. Anyway for the first time ever, I dreamed about my MC, who is formerly an assassin. It was the scene in my book where the badguys attack his house. In the book, he escapes while a couple other people stick around to take care of them. But in my dream, he (well, in the dream it was ME) stayed. The other guys corralled all the badguys and then he was like, "Give me a gun." And he just went in and shot them all.

When I woke up I was like, wow, that was the perfect illustration of his ruthlessness! I mean, in the novel I don't really show how brutal he is other than just his attitude towards people. You don't see him just knocking people off.

I'm still not sure if I'm gonna add it in though. Maybe if this round of queries is not successful. The dream was pretty cool though. And weird.

Is it bad that I was head-hopping in my sleep?

Siddow · Nov 5, 2007

Oh yeah, just had one of those yesterday. My NaNo novel is a complete re-do of one I started earlier this year and stalled on. I decided to start in a different place, throwing out the inciting incident that I had planned, but then yesterday, it dawned on me: that incident would make a great complication later in the plot.

I love it when things come together.

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 5, 2007

Take on Me had such a great innovative video and it was such a great song, too!

shakeysix · Nov 5, 2007

i have those

all the time. but if i try to force one it never works!
"force it like how, grandma?" the child asks.
"like with alcohol or sleepless nights or left handed cigarettes." i answer absentmindedly.
"what are left handed cigarettes, grandma?"
"never mind and get the eff out of my face, will ya? i cannot think with you whippersnappers underfoot!--s6

Namatu · Nov 5, 2007

JoNightshade said:
Is it bad that I was head-hopping in my sleep?

No, that's thorough research. You need to know what the other characters are thinking!

I've had that too, but not recently. I'm pretending my subconscious has it all figured out and is just waiting for the right moment to spring it on me.

TheIT · Nov 5, 2007

Oh, yeah, aren't Eureka moments great? For me, one came when I actually considered the layout of the room where the action was taking place. Another was when I finally figured out who the real MC of my WIP was and how to focus the story on him

melaniehoo · Nov 5, 2007

I did the other night. I finished my first draft last week and during my 'break' figured out how to fix my first four chapters. It was so obvious to me & right in from of my face all along, yet it took stepping away from my work to see it!

NicoleMD · Nov 5, 2007

Yes! Isn't it wonderful? Yesterday I had the idea that my climax should take place in a bath house. I have a lot of bath house scenes througout the rest of the book, and now they are building up to something. One of my secondary characters is a bath house slave and it gives him the medium to really shine.

Plus stewing in other people's bodily juices is automatically funny.

Nicole

J. R. Tomlin · Nov 5, 2007

I frequently dream about my WiPs and often figure out the plot in dreams. It scares me a little to hear other people don't.

Shady Lane · Nov 5, 2007

If It Ain't Broke was born last weekend when I saw Into the Wild. The whole time I was watching, my brain's going, "There's something here, there's something here, there's something here...."

And then that night I was like, WHAM.

And somehow from Into the Wild I got a book about a kid breaking all his bones....

JLCwrites · Nov 5, 2007

Shady Lane said:
And then that night I was like, WHAM.

A-Ha and WHAM! I am seriously getting 80's flashbacks!

I usually get my a-ha moment when I am scratching out an outline. As I am writing, suddenly the whole story explodes through my head, then I can't push my pencil fast enough.

Devil Ledbetter · Nov 5, 2007

I know what you mean, Patti. I didn't realize what my MC did for a living until I was midway through draft three. It was one of those "well of course" revelations and was a breeze to slip into to the story because it fit his personality perfectly.

I think that's what Stephen King was talking about in On Writing, when he said that sometimes writing fiction is like unearthing a fossil. The stuff is already there; we're just discovering it.

Stormhawk · Nov 5, 2007

All the time. My brain works stuff over without me even realising, then they usually pop into my brain while showering etc.

My favourite one lately was about my MC (who is barren) - I have a child character in my work with a mysterious past - I decided that he should have been created by the same process that made her immortal. That way she has a connection with him, but without the direct responsibility of motherhood.

virtue_summer · Nov 5, 2007

I had one of these moments last night. I started a short story a few months ago, then abandoned it because I didn't know where it went. A few days ago I tried working on it again, wrote a few paragraphs and then got stuck again. Then, last night, I'm sitting and watching television and all of a sudden I knew exactly what was supposed to happen. It's wonderful when those breakthrough moments come, isn't it?

Doodlebug · Nov 5, 2007

I live for those moments!

I think it is one of the very best parts of being a writer. And, for me anyway, it is such a visceral feeling. Like I can actually feel the pieces falling into place. I can ride a high like that for days!

Congratulations on your epiphany! May there be many more.

JohnDavidPaxton · Nov 5, 2007

I apologize that this is completely off topic but the "AHA" made me think of it.

Enjoy it:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...l=2&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

shakeysix · Nov 5, 2007

take on ... duane

tonight i picked one out of the waste paper can that i trashed in august. i have been thinking about duane, the m.c. all weekend. just a buggy, funny feeling. really, i did feel like the girl in that video, pulling that page out of the trash and smoothing it out. as soon as i started reading it over all the old enthusiasm bubbled back. --s6

sassandgroove · Nov 5, 2007

If you have an aha moment to spare send it my way, will ya?

Didja Ever Have One of Those AHA Moments?

PattiTheWicked

Unleashing Hell.

JoNightshade

has finally arrived

Siddow

I'm super! Thanks for asking

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy

Namatu

Lost in mental space.

TheIT

Infuriatingly Theoretical

melaniehoo

And thus we begin the edits

NicoleMD

Onomatopotamus

J. R. Tomlin

Shady Lane

my name is hannah

JLCwrites

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,

Stormhawk

Angry Bunny Girl

virtue_summer

Always learning

Doodlebug

JohnDavidPaxton

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy

sassandgroove

Sassy haircut