On Becoming a Different Writer.

So I'm revamping Playing With Fire, which I wrote back in December and something interesting occurred today when Scarlett read the first two chapters. She made a comment that I wasn't expecting:

"I can tell a different writer wrote this version."

That kind of stopped me in my tracks. I know my writing changes with every book - hopefully improving, though I'm sure I've done plenty of backsliding - but it was an odd comment that suddenly put some things into perspective.

Since finishing Playing With Fire 1.0, I've written - as of today - about 589,000 words. 6 completed novels, plus 3 major revisions. It's kind of weird to look at the book now and see how much my writing has changed.

It's not just my writing style, either. My comfort zone has expanded considerably. Playing With Fire is a dirty romance, just like everything I write, but reading it over now, I reined it in. Big time. I held back just like I did with the original versions of Camera Shy and Luke Boydston's Baby, both of which were written before Playing With Fire (and have since been overhauled, just as I'm doing to Playing With Fire now).

I held back on those scenes(tm), but it didn't stop there. At the time, I was still a fairly strict outliner...I didn't give my characters quite so much free rein to run off with the plot, dialogue, or anything else. It wasn't until I reread that book that I realized just how much I'd learned to let go and let the story happen on its own...and most importantly, that that's a good thing. I held back and Playing With Fire suffered for it.

So after Scarlett's comment, I took some time to reflect on what I've learned since writing the first version so that I can hopefully apply it to the new version.

Learning experiences? Yea, there were many:

• Between Brothers - If ever there was an exercise in letting those scenes(tm) tell the story, this was it. I was fairly confident with those scenes(tm) by then, but this book taught me not to hold back at all. Let the characters do what they want to do, what works for the story, don't hold back because someone might blush.
  
• With The Band - Oh, Bastian, the things you taught me. Namely, building tension between two people and keeping it going. Chemistry, my dear Bastian. Chemistry. (thank you, Scarlett, for pointing this out to me)
  
• Camera Shy & Luke Boydston's Baby (revisions) - For one, it's okay to rip a book to shreds and add chapters, rearrange scenes, etc. Also applied the learning experience from Between Brothers and pulled out all the stops (so to speak) on those scenes(tm), which allowed the characters and story to develop more naturally. Yeah, those scenes(tm) really are that important.
  
• Rules of Engagement - A major step out of the comfort zone by having a bisexual male as the POV character, not to mention a very new approach to those scenes(tm).
• Breaking the Rules - Turns out you don't have to have an evil antagonist - or even an antagonist at all - to create conflict. The conflict in this book is strictly internal, an emotional conflict between the two main characters...but it still created enough tension to drive the story to a satisfying finish, according to my loyal betas, Scarlett and Adam. This won't have much of an impact on Playing With Fire, but it's good to know.
  
• The Best Man - Subtlety. Subtlety. Subtlety. That was the name of the game in this book, and was a source of great frustration...but the results worked. This was also a huge exercise in listening to the characters over the outline, considering the outline had to be dramatically altered several times to accomodate my characters' whims.
  

So, after all of these trials by fire, I return to Playing With Fire, and realize just how much I still had to learn when I wrote it originally. In a way, I'm actually glad the contract was terminated on this book. I think the new version will be a lot better and will properly do justice to the story.

I'm approaching Playing With Fire 2.0 the same way I have my most recent books: Vague outline, general ideas, but if the characters disagree with the outline, the characters win. I'm not sure how safe it is to hand Ian Black the reins and say "do what ye will", but we'll see what happens. It's an experiment of sorts, but I'm liking the results so far.

It goes without saying that I, like every writer, still have tons to learn. Every book will be a learning experience, and hopefully every book will benefit the next book. For the writers among us, I highly recommend taking the time to go over your older work once in a while, just to see how far you've come. It's rather mind-boggling.

And, for the love of God, never rest on your laurels and assume you're "there". Writing is not static and if you're not learning as you go...something's wrong.