Monday, February 4, 2013

It's Groundhog Day...again by Jennifer Faye

This past Saturday the U.S. has this peculiar holiday known as Groundhog Day. I must confess those little creatures are cute but how in the world they got their own day on the calendar, February 2nd, boggles my mind. If you aren’t familiar with this unusual American tradition there’s a groundhog, Punxsatawney Phil, who sticks his head out of his hole and if he sees his shadow there’s six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow it means an early spring. Definitely a very scientific predictor.

And if you’re wondering how this ties into writing…well, I’m getting there. I promise.

This year I learned there are more groundhogs in the U.S. predicting the end of winter, who’d have guessed. Well, Phil predicted an early spring as did two other groundhogs. However, the one from Atlanta heartily disagreed. Hmm…3 to 1 vote for an early spring. I’m going with Phil, an early spring it is. J

Weather predicting aside, when I hear the words Groundhog Day, I think of the movie starring Bill Murray. If you haven’t seen it, it’s about a man who keeps reliving the same day in his life. No matter what he does it’s the same day. There’s no escaping it. Sometimes when I hit a rut, I joke that I’m stuck in Groundhog Day.

Hmm…now that I’ve been talking so much about the movie, I’m going to have to borrow it from the local library and watch it. *makes note*

Anyway, by now I know you’re scratching your head and wondering how this all relates to writing. Well, it does in a creative sort of way. When you are crafting a story, you have to be very aware that you don’t create a world in which your characters feel as though they are living out the movie, Groundhog Day. No one wants to read about someone’s boring, routine life day after day after day.

You want to start your book at the moment of change. When the H/h’s ordinary life becomes extraordinary…but within the bounds of reasonableness. For me discovering that moment is a lot of fun. What exactly will bring my character to that inciting moment? What exactly will cause the hero and heroine’s lives to intersect and never be the same again? The possibilities are endless and exciting.

For my July 2013 debut, “Rancher to the Rescue”, my hero and heroine have been taken out of their routine lives where the heroine is a cooking sensation on television and the hero is a sexy rancher. In the opening of the book, the heroine is a bride on the run and the hero unwittingly becomes her accomplice.

So how about your stories? How do you take the ordinary and make it extraordinary? Do you find it to be a challenge? Or are the prospects exciting?

12 comments:

  1. Pardon the pun (with your heroine being a cook), but you've given me food for thought. Thanks for the post.

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    1. Hi, Angela. *waving* Thanks so much for stopping by. Glad to have given you something to think about. :-)

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  2. Hi Jennifer!

    I'm definitely ready for warmer weather, too!

    Great post! I find that writing the inciting incident is full of possibilities and excitement; however, I often re-write that moment at least two or three times. The more I write, the more I get to know my characters. When I feel I have a good understanding of how and why they act and think the way they do, then I usually try to come up with the most challenging and uncomfortable meeting or reunion. (Insert evil laugh.)

    Taking our characters out of their comfort zones and challenging them to grow and become better people is soooo much fun! :)

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    1. Hi, Tina. You are so right about rewriting the opening scene. There's just so much weighing on that scene and so much info to impart without losing the pacing. I rewrite it A LOT. :-)

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  3. Ha! I love that movie! (But I do love redemption type movies) And maybe that's what makes the movie more.
    Oh, wait we're talking about writing! LOL

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    1. Glad you liked that movie too. I really do have to pick up a copy of it and watch it again. :-)

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  4. Love the movie and your post! I took a class recently where the author used movie scenes to show how to avoid the routine. Very cool!

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    1. So glad you enjoyed the post. Movies are a great teaching tool when you try to explain a different approach to writing. Glad it worked for you. :-)

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  5. Ooh, early spring? I hope so, but the forecast in my part of the country is for a huge snowstorm this week. :-(

    As far as keeping it interesting, I don't have time for a romantic suspense that seems ordinary. If I need to spice it up, I just add a dead body or an explosion. (just kidding)(sort of)

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    1. Oh my! Haven't kept up on the weather this week. Best go check out weather.com. Hope you and your family stay safe and warm.

      And with you writing romantic suspense, I'm guessing most of the time you start off with a bang. Pun intended :-)

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  6. Great post, great advice and love that film. I really liked what you said about the hero and heroine intersecting and their lives never being the same again - the basis to every great romance, I think. A really enjoyable post, Jennifer. Thank you! :-)

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    1. Hi, Lindsay! Glad you enjoyed the post. I still haven't borrowed the movie from my library but it's on my list of things to do. :-)

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