Time To Regroup!

I decided yesterday that it was definitely time to regroup on a minor turning point in my WIP - a mystery with its roots in the past. My characters are connected by a friendship that began in the Haight-Ashbury era. Certain things happened "back in the day" - two people disappeared, literally overnight. They left behind them an organization that ... well, it folded completely, leaving lots of questions.

One of those individuals has returned to the area, under another name. He is a high profile person that has been headquartered in New York City for years - partially to avoid recognition, although he did change his appearance. I had to have a reason for him to return to the west coast - with his wife. I gave him the occupation of a high end art dealer, and had him going after an antique statue. I know nothing about antiques, and was wasting way too much precious time researching the background for this statue, how it got to this country, and what it looked like.

The light-bulb finally lit up - change the statue to a small painting! Change the origin of the painting to Europe! Much easier to research, much easier to sell to my readers (the story, not the painting!).

Lesson learned. When I have spent too much time on any one thing, and it is blocking my progress, I am going to at least allow room for changing whatever needs to be changed so that the story works, and I can move along.

The good thing is - I hope to make this set of characters into a series. The stronger I make them in this first book, the easier it will be for them to continue to run amok in future books.

Who knew that a small point (figuratively speaking) in a plot could wreck such havoc!

(c) March 2011 Bonnie Cehovet