>Vanilla

>That’s how I’m feeling at the moment…blah, boring.

You may have noticed there’s a lot of talk right now on Voice. I must be on the collective blogger’s wavelength, because I wrote about it on RWKF last week. And in talking about voice, the topic of originality always comes up. Unique story lines, fresh voice, intruiging perspectives.

Its all been on my mind lately, and I have to say I’m feeling quite…vanilla. I can’t find any of that in my past or present works. It may be that I’m too close to it, that I can’t see my own growth when I’m working at it everyday. I’m sure that’s true to a point. But I also think I’m objective enough to realize my work doesn’t have the spark it should.

I’m rewriting Dead Man’s Hand, and have found it lacking in every aspect. Why was I writing this story? What was it about this that intruiged me to begin with–enough to get through the first 15 chapters?

My characters won’t let me in their heads. They stick their tongues out at me or turn their backs when I try to engage them in coversation. My red herrings are more green than red, my twists more a slight curve than a corkscrew.

Do you ever feel like your work is rather vanilla in comparison to what’s out there or what’s selling or what agents/editors say they’re looking for? When you find your work tending toward the ordinary, what do you do to spice it up?