Writing Tip #6: Thanks, Game of Thrones

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Game of Thrones ruined my book.

 

I haven’t seen the show, but when my brother read the first chapter of my new Renaissance-era fantasy, the first thing he said was, “So you wrote a book about Cersei?”

 

I spent a few minutes explaining why my character was original, unique, nothing like the GOT villain he’d noticed a slight similarity to. So what that she was an evil twin sister who was beautiful, powerful, and prone to raising an eyebrow? By the time my book was published, no one would be talking about Game of Thrones anymore, anyway.

 

Then he showed me a clip, and I had to admit it: I wrote a book about Cersei.

 

I almost threw his new laptop across the room. There was no way I could revise. All of those things that made my villain similar to Cersei were also the things that made my plot work. As I brainstormed new ways to set my character apart, I grew more and more worried that I was going to make the story worse rather than better.

 

Has your writing group ever suggested to change a subplot you loved? Have beta readers given you feedback that turns your story on its head? While some of you might enjoy pulling your stories apart and sewing the pieces into something new, for a long time I had a hard time admitting when my stories needed massive overhauls. Oh, the agony of plot holes that require major revisions! To me, revision was synonymous with proofreading. Minor changes were fine. I’d even rewrite a scene if needed. But major structural changes? Rewriting whole characters? Changing the POV? No way.

 

Over time, however, I’ve learned to love revision. We might not be soulmates, but we’ve definitely moved out of one-night-stand territory. When I realized my last book had major structural and pacing issues, I wrote all of my scenes onto index cards and rearranged them until they made sense. It took a lot of hard work, but my story was better for it. Not a single beta reader indicated any issues with the structure or pacing of the book.

 

Changing the villain to my Renaissance story was frustrating, but as I made the revision, I discovered who the character should have been all along. She gained more depth and clearer motivations. Her backstory became more compelling. It wasn’t until I was forced to take revision seriously that I pushed her from being a trope to being a human.

 

Don’t shy away from major revisions in your story. Dive in, and see your story reach heights you couldn’t have imagined.