At dinner tonight, I was describing a new project idea to my 11-year-old. We’re talking a brand-new, just percolating grain of an idea…but I wanted to bounce it off my real live boy and see if the concept, at least, intrigued him.
I told him about the two main characters, how they somehow connect even though they’re from different social classes, how the male MC writes to a famous dead writer and his letters end up getting answered, how the female MC gets lost in the woods somehow and the male MC goes after her and gets in trouble himself somehow…and then she ends up saving him not only from the wilderness but from his former life, somehow.
J nodded and said with a straight face, “It sounds good. You’re going to have to fix all those somehows, though…”
Isn’t that just the truth? When I think about novels that I’ve read that didn’t quite work for me, it’s often because the “somehows” were never addressed. I’m adding “Fix the Somehows” to my list of revision reminders right now.
lol-Kate that’s great! I am having so much fun bouncing my current WIP off of my 14 year old. He is awesome and has really been crucial in helping me keep on the right track with this one. We all need sons to help us out! They are great.
Your child is a sage.
May I make him my guru?
Fix the somehows. That’s brilliant. 🙂
Ahhh…the getting lost in the woods scene…one I am struggling with now. “Somehow” it will happen, I guess. Kids at the age of your son can be so profound…I still remember some of the things my own son said at that age, and he’s in his thirties now.
Yep. My biggest fear is that I didn’t fix the “somehows” well enough. Smart fella.
“You’re going to have to fix all those somehows, though . . .” Truer words were never spoken.
Daughters, too!
I’m sure he’d be honored! I’ll ask him to stop by with more bits of wisdom from time to time…
So simple…so true.
Your somehows are coming together, though, Judy – I like the last chapters you shared.
He is…and an avid, avid reader, so he knows just what it looks like when all the “somehows” fall into place.
I have those words taped to my computer monitor now.
I have a sons girlfriend. =) Close as I can get to a daughter.