Leaving Well Enough Alone

Posted by on October 18, 2011

By A.J. Llewellyn

Writing is a funny thing. I can go back over each and every book I’ve written and find places where I could have improved things. I’ve asked other writers this and all agree…especially when it involves our earliest works.
As a college professor once told me and the rest of our class, “even Casablanca isn’t perfect” but I am not sure about that!
I turned in a new story over the weekend and it’s a very personal one…I guess they all are, butIf Come, which is based on a situation that just happened to one of my dearest friends is one of those that I…well…just cannot leave alone.
If Come came to me when my friend Lizzie signed an If Come deal with a major movie producer. I’d never heard of it before but loved the name. An If Come deal is when a writer signs a contract with a producer who will shop his or her screenplay and if it comes to pass that it’s produced, he or she will get extra benefits for having signed such a deal.
It’s like a dream…will you wake up and find it’s a) real, b) a dream or c) a nightmare?
I had fun writing this story and fell in love with my characters but dammit, I’ve now sent two updated drafts to my editor who has been very gracious about the updates.
However, I wonder why this book won’t leave me alone.
I’m not sure if it’s because the whole rigmarole of pitching screenplays to studios is so personal to me since I’ve based the scenes in the book on my own experiences…or if it’s that…well…I just want to keep hanging out with these characters. I grew to love Zam and Dominic and they will not get out of my head.
I think this is why we authors write series. We fall in love and never want the dance to end.
These men keep chattering in my mind and they keep…doing things to each other. I can be driving and Zam and Dominic do something so cute it has to go in my story. Am I crazy or is this normal?
How about you? Do you feel this way? Just curious…

Aloha oe,

A.J.

Posted in Category: Writing and Poetry | 2 Comments

2 Responses to “Leaving Well Enough Alone”

  1. Totally agree! Even series hubs and I think we’ve finished – like Meghan’s Playhouse. I just know Meg has other adventures in store.

    The craziest part is to be driving somewhere that we’ve set a story, round a bend in the road, and be totally convinced we’re about to drop on on those characters. If they’re not living lives somewhere that we’re privileged to drop in on and put on the page, I swear I don’t know how this entire “author” scenario works.

    Anyway I’m glad your characters keep talking to you!

    xoxo

    Adriana

    Posted by Adriana Kraft on October 22nd, 2011 at 10:43 am

  2. OMG I feel the same way! I was in Honolulu a few weeks ago and walked past the Ilikai Marina and was soooo disappointed not to run into Lindo Santiago, my character from “Xu” they are so real to us, aren’t they??

    Posted by AJ on October 22nd, 2011 at 6:28 pm

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