Good thoughts for Stormy please

My poor dog.

On a walk a few weeks ago, she stuck her head into a bush, not realizing the cat inside that bush would not take kindlyto her peeking there. The cat hissed and clawed at Stormy, and I'm pretty sure scratched her eyeball, which has resulted in an ulcer in her eye.

We've been to the vet three times so far w/ two different antibiotics and today a little procedure done to hopefully get the blood cells to react and go to the area and fight to get rid of the ulcer. It's supposed to get worse before it gets better, and it could very well not get better, which means we will have to see an eye specialist next.

For the next week, she continues to wear the cone of shame and I continue to give her drops four times a day as equally spaced over twenty four hours out as I can manage. It really has not been fun, especially for her.

If you can send good thoughts that the treatment today helps heal the ulcer on her cornea so we don't have to go to the specialist, I would really appreciate it. And Stormy too, of course.

Update 6/14/13 - Stormy did have to see the specialist and have another procedure done. But hopefully the worst is over. We go back for a recheck in ten days, so hoping at that point, we'll hear some good news, finally. Thanks for all your good thoughts!

Surprises and unique story elements

I've been thinking a lot about surprises and unique story elements, mostly because I've discovered how much I love it as a reader when something surprises me, in a good way.

I'm reading a contemporary novel for adults right now, Nowhere But Home, and I was enjoying it just fine and then... surprise! Something different. Unique. Something that made me go - wow, I haven't seen that in a book before. Suddenly my desire to get back to this book has increased tenfold. I'm dying to see where this new plot thread goes. I'm SO intrigued by it (I'm not going to tell you what it is, in case you want to read it).

But here's an example that might illustrate what I mean, because I realize "surprises" can mean lots of different things. One of the things I really loved about The Silver Linings Playbook is that I wasn't expecting the dance-thing. At all. It took me completely by surprise, and it kind of turned the story on its head and made it so much more fun.

In my YA novel Falling For You, I added a fun element, a surprise, in the way of secret notes to give the reader a bit of a break from what is a pretty dark story at times. I've read a few other books where secret notes or "clues" (that lead the character places) play a part, and I can specifically remember how much I loved that part of the story.

I really believe readers want to be surprised one way or another, and it is our job, as writers, to figure out how to do that.

One of the things I've started doing when I'm writing a book is to brainstorm "fun" things in my notebook. It's usually a list of random things that make me smile and that I might like to put in a book some day. Not all the things get put in *that* book and sometimes I come across an idea I save for a book all its own.

Another example of this comes via this drawing, which a reader sent to me after she read the first two "Cupcake" books and wanted to give me ideas for the third book.

Along with this picture she drew (which I love by the way), she gave me a description of every girl in the band and what she wore. It made me realize (and remember my hairbrush singing days) that most girls this age love music and probably do imagine from time to time what it would be like to be on stage, singing or playing music. This led me to putting Lily, the main character in Frosting and Friendship, in a band with a few of her friends, since she loves to sing. The girls are new at this band thing, trying to find their way with playing music and writing songs, as they would be at the ages of twelve and thirteen. But I love how this part of the story played out and how it came to be a part of the main plot.

Another way to look at this comes via my friend and NYT bestselling author Laini Taylor. She's said on her blog a few different times that one of her favorite questions to ask while she's writing is this: "What is the coolest way this plot thing might happen?"

Cool. Fun. Unique. 

Keep these words in mind, and find ways to bring the cool, the fun, the unique to your story and surprise the reader. You'll be glad you did. And so will your readers!!