BOM: The Writing

Happy Independence Day!

On this holiday Wednesday, I am packing to head off to my annual retreat and the Christian Retailers' convention--this year in Atlanta. It's always good to be with friends, though it's a long week away from my family and my dogs.

The writing of The Elevator held a couple of unique challenges. First was how to tell a story where the principal characters are pretty much stuck in an elevator for most of the book. I knew I'd be using flashbacks, but where to put them? How to space out the scenes for greatest impact and tension? Choices that were a bit tricky.

Another challenge was Isabel. She was a native Spanish speaker, so I had to write in a way that implied that English was her second language. I had to bend the rules a little--if I were being 100 percent legit, I'd have written her scenes in Spanish (and butchered the language, no doubt), so I had to write them in English while helping the reader believe that Isabel was thinking in Spanish and searching for the right English words. I can only hope I pulled it off.

The next challenge was, of course, the ending. Endings are always a challenge for me, and often I put them off until the third or fourth draft. I have an idea what's supposed to happen, but there are always so many possibilities . . . I wait until I know the characters better so they can tell me what to do. Or maybe the Lord shows me what to do.

I remember when I was writing THE JUSTICE--I was on the treadmill going through the last draft and told the Lord I needed an ending, and fast. Fortunately, He came through. He always does.

Tomorrow: the editing

~~Angie