The Spanish author, Juan Ramón Jimenez once wrote (and Ray Bradbury used it as his opening quote in Fahrenheit 451) – “If you are given ruled paper, write the other way.”
Well, in the latest chapter of The Book of Hours, I’ve been giving my characters ruled paper and they don’t like it. They have actually been screaming at me to write the other way. Writers can be stubborn, but, after struggling with a scene in which my characters simply refuse to act, I need to write the other way. My characters want me to write the other way.
So…scrap the scene. It is NOT working, despite the great dialogue and character development (according to moi). After all, C. J. Cherryh did say, and I paraphrase, you can write garbage, but you must edit brilliantly.
So, I am editing brilliantly.
