Those Precious "Aha!" Moments… and Secrets

 

As a writer these are among the best things ever, and I just came across one.

 

Secrets.

 

I was visiting a few writing blogs and as usual, I was just clicking around and not focusing enough, when I spotted something really useful. Using character secrets to shape the action. I was having some trouble with one of the WIPs about what the frack should happen next, and this gave me a really useful framework to structure some of the scenes. 

 

The advice was plotting out how to reveal the secret in layers and making each new revelation a turning point in the story. Now I still have to work out on paper whether this is going to solve my particular problem, but it sure gave me inspiration and a few ideas to work with. But I think it's going to make a world of difference to the mushy part of the story I've been trying to avoid for the past couple of days!