My plot finally came together, all thanks to that assignment with which we all have a love/hate relationship: Theme.

I wrote a premise, but I wasn't happy with it. I revised my character's goal and conflict several times, but they all felt like complications, plot twists, short story fodder - not the makings of a novel. The only thing I was sure about was my character and her flaws.

The missing conflict crippled me, and I went a couple days without posting (I even got a time limit warning from Shaye, lol.) How could I pin down an inciting incident and my character's reaction to that incident if I didn't know what the conflict was? I brainstormed a few things, but they felt hollow and weak.

It wasn't until I brainstormed my theme with Robert Waltz (he's a good brainstorming partner; he just sits there and listens - or pretends to listen while he vanishes to go pick up a car - while you throw ideas at him and wait to see what sticks) that I finally realized the problem. I was trying to force plots on my character that simply were not big enough problems to interest her. I thought about her idealogies, her belief system, and what that meant for my theme.

My character is a bit of an accidental superhero, so I was trying to subconsciously pin a good-versus-evil theme on her. When I started articulating the theme, with actual words, according to the Day 4 assignment, I realized how wrong that is, because, for the most part, she doesn't believe in good-versus-evil. Her world is filled with shades of gray. It wasn't about fighting evil; it was about discerning evil, learning how to differentiate who's right from who's wrong. Because when you are a powerful Celtic goddess, you can either renounce your power, or you can play judge to the citizens of the world.

This book is not about fighting bad guys. It's about learning how to handle that kind of power.

Yay, theme! I finally have my premise.

Cheers,
Michelle