Those “Aha” Moments

by Karen Whiddon

This article will appear in the April issue of Heart to Heart, the North Texas RWA Newsletter. Please feel free to reprint it with proper credit given.

Someone asked me recently what it was that I had learned, after so many years of writing so many unpublished manuscripts, that enabled me to make my first sale. Since I’m still learning every single day, with each and every book I write, I had to think about my answer. I know it wasn’t one definitive thing, but more like a compilation of “light bulb” moments. So I asked other authors to share their Aha Moments. In putting them together, I was struck by some similarities.

Characterization ranks right up there at the top.

“One day, wanting to do something different, I went inside the head of my hero, became him, and started writing his thoughts about the heroine.  Surprise, surprise – my critique group raved about that part of the scene and said it touched their hearts. The very next book I wrote turned out to be my first sale.” Carolyn Greene, Harlequin/Silhouette author “Learning that people (characters) are not all good or all bad, but are most interesting when we paint them in shades of gray, flaws as well as good points, troubling goals and ideas as well as stuff we the reader can get behind. They key to presenting a really gray character is all in the motivation. I sold the book I wrote as I figured that out.” Anna Adams, Harlequin Superromance author

“In my first writing class from Martha Corson, who wrote as Anne Lacey and was a student of Dwight Swain and Jack Bickham, she said she was critiquing a student’s work and when she asked what the purpose of a scene was, the writer answered “Oh, they’re just passing the time of day.” Her reply was the statement “Character’s never meet to pass the time of day.” Kathleen Nance, Leisure author

“An ‘aha’ moment for me was when a good friend and Rita finalist read a proposal and mentioned that my heroine felt awfully sorry for herself, which made her seem whiny. She pointed out that the reader may/should feel sorry for the heroine, but the heroine should be working hard NOT to feel sorry for herself. That hit me hard.” Ann Roth, Harlequin American author “If a scene isn’t working, go back and write it from another character’s point of view. Always write from the POV of the character who has the most to lose/gain.” Judith E. French, Leisure author

Several authors mentioned conflict as another “aha” moment. “…when the only criticism left was the weakness of the conflict, I finally grasped that commercial fiction needs great, big, larger-than-life conflict that springs from both the characters and the situation (internal and external). Norah Wilson, Leisure author

“Defining an emotional conflict. It was hard for me to pinpoint a good conflict.” Cecelia Dowdy, Harlequin author

“I think for years I’d been making this whole process way too hard. Once I figured out that essentially you want to take one guy, one girl, and give them some problems to work through, the rest seemed to take care of itself.”  Laura Altom, Leisure and Harlequin author.

Since I myself continue to experience “aha” moments, I had another one while gathering information for this article. A few authors mentioned fear as something they had to overcome. I struggle with this daily. “Fear of not being perfect is the enemy of creativity.” Alesia Holliday, Leisure author.

“As an unpublished writer for nine years, I had trained myself to focus on my weaknesses, on what needed improving. However, once I figured out that I should stop that and instead focus on playing up my strengths – I wrote a story where my strengths would be highlighted. Soon after, I sold my first book.. I don’t think it was a coincidence in timing.” Julie Elizabeth Leto, Harlequin author

“So I though I should be looking for what the published authors did right in their books, not wrong. Once I began looking for that, I quickly learned a lot. If nothing else, I learned you go where you’re led. If you’re always looking at mistakes in the books you read, your writing’s not going to improve. Focus on the positive!” Susan Meier, author of twenty-five books for Harlequin and Silhouette

“This insight, which took too long for an “aha” moment, more like an a-a-a-hha-a-a, is when I began to trust the process. It took about three contracted books for me to realize that my writing habits will come through for me. Whether it’s the thought process, the unconscious at work, my daydream, or just the act of sitting in the chair at the computer – I don’t know why it works, but it does. And now I don’t panic if I’m stuck. I literally take a breath, try to relax my body, and let the girls in the basement take over. I go back some pages in the ms. and then go forward again. Invariably, the problem gets resolved.” Linda Barrett, Harlequin/Silhouette author

And finally, Alesia Holliday elaborated on fear. “I wasted years and years NOT writing because I was afraid of not being perfect. After Sept. 11th, I realized I didn’t want to die – or wake up at age 65 one day – saying I could have been a writer. When I finally gave myself permission to just do my best, it was like I’d unleashed a flood of creativity.”


Karen Whiddon is member of NTRWA, YRRWA, NOLA, and DARA. She writes for
Leisure and for Silhouette books and has sold 12 books. Her first Intimate Moments, ONE EYE OPEN, will be out in June 2004 and her next Leisure Lovespell, SOUL MAGIC, comes out in December 2004