An A ha! Moment

I have been battling with a particular story for weeks.  I worked hard on it and even typed THE END at the bottom of the manuscript.  A proud moment, right?  Well, not in this case.  I read that thing over and over and it just seemed off.  I'm happy with the premise and I love the characters (especially one of them) so all that was good. The resolution came together nicely. There was just enough conflict and angst to keep everything interesting, in my opinion. There wasn't as much sex as in my other stories but it didn't require it. I had the perfect characters, the perfect story, and the perfect amount of conflict to take it to a satisfying conclusion. 

I sent the completed draft to my editor slash friend, thinking I'd walk away for awhile and wait for her opinion - the whole time feeling weird about it. If you knew me, you'd know that once I send a story to my editor, I remove it from my computer screen and don't so much as glance at it again until she gets back with me. I can't, because every single time I go back into something I've written, I want to make too many changes.  I'll read it again and think "Oh, that wording needs to be changed" or I'll think a scene will need to be elaborated on. To me, nothing I write is ever 100% good enough. I am my own worst critic so I know that once a story is gone it will remain so until a little while down the road.

So, I sent the story about Adam and Eric to my editor and that was a "Stay away!" sign for me until it was to be sent back for me to tweak.

Eric

But it wouldn't go away. The "something is not right" stayed in my head and I found myself reading it again and again trying to figure out what was wrong with it. I practically begged my editor to delete the message I sent her (with the manuscript attached) and wait for a revised copy. Of course, she could have read it and probably immediately told me what the issue was and that would have saved a lot of frustration on my part. She's good like that. She promised to hold off and instead read a kinky Christmas story I had recently finished. That one I'm proud of, and nothing seems off about it. It may to others, but not to me. If her wonderful response to the story is anything to go by, that one is almost ready to go.

Though, she might be wanting to kick this southern girl's butt over the recent changes I've made to that story. I'm sure that's another blog post for another day. She hasn't seen the changes yet. *grin*

Adam

Today I finally decided to put the other story away, to be hidden in one of my many folders on my laptop, to be revisited down the road. I was in the process of doing just that when it clicked. No wonder it seemed off. It was written in the wrong character's point of view. The character I used is more of an observer than the other man. So, in all these weeks of feeling like the story was off, it was. I didn't realize that I was telling the whole thing from the wrong person's perspective. 

Gee, no wonder it didn't work! This guy, while interesting in his own right, isn't the one with the past issues and major back story to tell. Now, don't I feel silly? I should have had the other character take center - where he rightfully deserves to be.

So, while I have a few rare hours to myself today I'll be hopefully getting that story where I am comfortable with it. Leaving it alone indefinitely was never an option, regardless of how I felt about it. I am too proud of these guys to leave them in the "Probably Should Be Deleted" folder on my computer.

Once again, I'm leaving you with some eye candy. I know I promised some het pics in my last post, but the two stories mentioned in this one are strictly man-on-man so I'm adding my inspirations for the still-untitled-story-I've-been-bitching-about. 

The kinky Christmas inspiration photos will come later. 

As you can obviously tell, Adam is quite a bit older than Eric. I've said many times that I have this major kink about older and younger characters coming together. Adam and Eric are no different. At the moment (and subject to change), Adam is forty and Eric is in his mid-twenties. 

I hope everyone is having an amazing weekend so far. As for me, I'm off to hopefully finally see a light at the end of the tunnel with Adam and Eric. They'd look hot together, don't you think? 

If only Eric would move his damn hand already.

*Sigh*

Can't have everything.

Until next time.

~Candi Kay