Two Questions Answered

Hi, friends!

Here's my attempt to tackle two questions you guys recently asked:

Tonya asked : When you write do you ever get stuck with two directions to the story? If so what do you do? Sometimes I think of more than one way things can go, should I write both?

All the time, Tonya! In fact, I often get stuck with the possibility of many directions in a story, and it's frozen me in the past. Different authors tackle this in different ways. One way I'm learning is two-fold. First, I am trying to make it more of a practice to ask the Lord for help in what to write next when I'm stuck. I'm learning it helps to get in a really quiet place, say a prayer, and then rest and listen. I have been surprised more often then not how quickly an idea I didn't see at first pops into my head! I know that's the Lord. Maybe he was just waiting for me to shut up and ask Him!

Another technique I use is to ask myself, "If I were watching this book as a movie, what would I personally want to see happen next?" Often an answer is right there, and I figure if I would like to read/watch it, then others might too.

Some authors I know will write several different directions and then pick which one they like best. Whatever works for you is the way you should go!

Courtney: For fiction, how much can you make up while still keeping it real? If your story is set in a certain town, would it be ok to make up stores and streets even if they don't really exist? Or is that going too far?

I struggled with this question while writing my novel Thicker than Blood. At first I wrote the story without naming the state in which it took place, or the town. I made everything up. Then I got to talking with my editor and realized it would be better to use real places. Here's how I made it work. I named the state (in my case Colorado), but then I fictionalized the town. If you name a real town, you run the risk of losing your credibility with the locals if you completely change things. Now this isn't to say you can't name a real town and make up the name of your coffee shop. But if you go to changing things too much, people will notice. I tried to avoid that headache by using a fictional town based on a real one.