Behind the Story: One Love for Liv by Marianne Arkins

Behind the Story: One Love for Liv by Marianne Arkins

“One Love For Liv” was my 2005 NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) story. I’d been working on another novel previously and had originally intended for Liv to show up as my hero’s ex-fiancée. After a great deal of thought, I decided she didn’t work in that story, but despite the fact that she was a snob and terribly unkind, I really loved (LOVED) the character, so had to use her.

I’d also realized that most of my heroine’s were tomboys, so I set out to make Liv everything they weren’t. I’d never had a blonde heroine, so Liv became not just blonde, but platinum. They always loved animals, so Liv? Hated them, one and all. They were strong and unafraid of much, so Liv was scared of most things outside her realm of the routine.

Then I had to give her a hero. And he had to be everything she despised: a poor, uncouth, sloppy pet owner. I think I succeeded in Mike. He’s a nice enough guy, but nothing that Liv would ever have considered being attracted to.
Writing this story for NaNoWriMo was more than a challenge! I had so much fun with it. If I got stuck, I used a “dare” from their message board to get me moving. Thanks to that, I created a colorful secondary character, Frank, who is desperately trying to break a Guinness Book World Record. Completing a novel in thirty days forced me to WRITE. No going back to chapter one and making it perfect, no agonizing over whether the heroine had motivation to paint her toenails purple, no deciding that cleaning the entire house from top to bottom was more important. My job that month was to create.

Once the first draft was completed (two days early!), I set it aside and forgot about it for awhile. Then, after several months, I pulled it back out, read through it and realized just how much work it needed to be in the least bit presentable. I must have rewritten the first chapter ten times, and even then I wasn’t entirely happy with the result. Finally, though, I thought I’d tidied it up enough to share with one particular writing friend, Darcy, who is the best editor in the world.

She read through the entire draft and was ruthless in her suggestions. Red ink flew! When I got the draft back I was both demoralized (“Wow! I didn’t know it was so awful.”) and energized (“Woot! Look at all the ways I can make this better!”).

It took a long time after that to get it all worked out. She challenged me. Questioned character motivation. Loved some stuff, hated others. I had to decide what to take and what to toss—harder than it sounds, because she’s someone whose opinion I value greatly.
Then… it was done and ready. I just had to write up a synopsis. Yeah… well.. that’s a breeze. Still, I struggled through and got it done.

And the rest is history.

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Tags: , Behind the Story, Who Can It Be Now (Guest Blogger)