Ch-Ch Changes...

(Yeah, I'm in changes up to my friggin' knee!)

It's strange how fast change can occur. In characters, it's normally gradual. The weak heroine grows a backbone. An immature hero learns depth and humility. When the change happens overnight, I have a hard time connecting to the characters and story. I've been having a problem with a story I'm working on, because one of my characters had grown stagnant. I've gone through and ripped him back open, planting the seeds for possible growth along the story. Now it's flowing better, and he's not such a pain in my *ss. Well, he still is, because he's a mindreader and he has an attitude, but that's part of his brusque charm.

I always know when something isn't working with a story. When I can't write because I'm stuck, nothing works but changing and smoothing out the rough patches. Then the words flow.

So what made me think of changes... I'll tell you. The other day my mother was nagging--er--asking me to go cross country skiing with her. I'm a cautious soul, and after reading about the mountain closing due to high winds, and then learning about tree wells (which I'd never before heard of), in which you can suffocate if you're not careful, I wasn't too keen on skiing without a few lessons. [Note: If you cross country ski on groomed trails, you're nowhere near tree wells, but I'm a punk and the snow freaks me out after living the past 13 years in the deep South.] Anyway, in order to get to the trails, we drove from my house toward Mt. Bachelor. We went from no snow to drifts and poor visibility in the span of ten minutes. Shocked the crap out of me. Take a look.




Needless to say, some changes I like. Others I'm still trying to wrap my mind around.