Wouldn't You Know It: this particular chapter was by far the biggest challenge and the last scene I wrote. In Now You See Me, at the end a lot of money rains down upon a large crowd of thousands of people in the streets, creating a major diversion, and helping the main characters to escape. Just like in my upcoming novel.
My concern is readers will think I copied this scene. And I try very hard to write something original or different.
Not sure if I need to rewrite this problem child of a chapter, or just go with it.
Has this ever happened to you?
Coffee shop owner Maggie Maguire doesn’t trust the new police chief her father hired to protect Maguire’s Corner. He’s a stranger, cold, bossy and annoyingly handsome. But, Maggie’s witnessed a serious crime and now someone’s trying to kill her. The man that aggravates her most might be the only one that can help her.
Police Chief Jack Munro likes his new job and his new town, and unfortunately he also likes the stubborn but beautiful town sweetheart. His self-imposed hands-off Maggie policy is about to be put to the ultimate test when he must keep her close to protect her while he tracks down a ruthless killer.
Determined to ignore Jack’s charms, Maggie attempts to help him unravel the mystery but when their lives hang in the balance she must decide how much she’s willing to risk to save the man she suddenly can’t resist.
Below are some links where you can find Maguire’s Corner and me! Thanks for your time!
Twitter: @hmgardner
But Wait, That's Not All! There’s also The Thrill Of It All Blog Hop, brought to you by Heather M. Gardner and Tara Tyler to celebrate Maguire's Corner and Pop Travel. There's still time to sign up. Just click the badge on my left side bar. Oh, there it is. Just to your left. And down a bit.
Did You Know: Space debris, also known as orbital debris, space junk, and space waste, includes everything from spent rocket stages, old satellites, fragments from disintegration, erosion, and collisions. 19,000 pieces of debris larger than 5 cm are tracked with another 300,000 pieces smaller than 1 cm below 2000 km altitude. 
IWSG: It's that time again for Captain Ninja Alex's Insecure Writers Support Group and to post on a common concern. I'm sure most writers like you have a fear of being hit by space junk. I do. No, really. I do. Ouch! A half eaten apple from the International Space Station just bounced off my head. Well, better than a piece of space poo.
Fun Fact: The odds of being killed by falling space debris is 1 in 5 billion. Whew! I feel better already.
Heather rocks!
ReplyDeleteNo IWSG?
I have heard it said that we should do something about cleaning up the junk in space. Not sure how, would be expensive no doubt.
ReplyDeleteAs for changing your chapter, wait and see how popular the movie is before you consider changing it.
Way to go Heather.
Heather's book sounds great. Good luck to her. Space junk can be scary, hope I am not hit by space poo.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain over your chapter problem - I'm not sure what I'd do. I might look at rewriting a little, actually.
ReplyDeleteI've never actually considered space debris, but now I can't stop looking up!
Yeah, I've spent days, weeks, agonizing over a scene I felt unique, only to see it on a blog as a trope, or in a movie or novel I'm viewing. Irritating. Still, money falling from the sky - especially in a place like Vegas, Atlantic City, or even NYC is not new. The "originality" might be in a place you don't expect money - a two story bank and loan in a farm town, for instance. The setting would be more important than the gimmick.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to check out Heather's book.
Don't forget to duck while outside sunning yourself this weekend Steve :)
......dhole
I think my pc has bit hit by an alien. I keep getting a side bar coming and going on my blog also up up adverts coming up from the bottom. wish it would go away.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
Finding another book/film with an idea or title that's close to yours happens all the time. Don't freak out. I'm sure your idea will work perfectly where you put it.
ReplyDeleteI loved Heather's book blurb. It sounds like such a cute mystery!
Thanks for taking the fear out of falling space junk. :-)
We've seen asteroids zoom closer to Earth than our satellite orbits recently. Some have hit Earth. Just a matter of time before a big chunk of space junk lands in a populated area.
ReplyDeleteHi Stephen .. yea they've been tracking the junk, as long as the sun doesn't get in the way as happened with the Russian asteroid .. and your numbers are quite frightening .. Re your chapter .. I'm sure that scenario has been done in other ways too - I'm not so sure it's so unique - but what you've written will be .. with the descriptions, escape routes etc .. worry ye not!
ReplyDeleteCheers Hilary
The odds are in our favor that we will not be hit by space junk, however, with my luck, it would be me.
ReplyDeleteYes on the first question -- not an exact scene but similiar. In your defense, that scene has been done before besides the movie you saw. Money falling into a crowd as a distraction is not new. I'm not sure anything is new anymore. A copy editor, I hire to fine tune my grim tales, told me recently that my my first story where a little girl snoops to find a "still" reminded her of the the scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy's dog is taken by the mean woman. In my story, the dog was poisened by the woman. So many things seem familiar to us because, in my opinion, they've been done somewhere else in some way.
Perhaps you should write with a helmet to avoid falling junk ;)
ReplyDeleteThe book sounds really good-- thanks for sharing.
And oh the scene. AUGH-- how frustrating. I bet you can keep it and make it original to your story.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for putting my book and blogfest info up on your post today! What a treat!
I am actually concerned, especially after Russia, of anything from space getting through Earth's atmo and landing down here. One never knows.
I wouldn't change your scene, sir. As others said, it will be unique to you.
Thanks again,
Heather
I would keep the chapter as is....that bit isn't exclusive to that movie, I've seen it in a quite a few other places.
ReplyDeleteGood ideas are good ideas and I wouldn't worry about anyone thinking you lifted it from somewhere else. :)
I have a few ideas to tweek the chapter. Make it more unique and it won't be a lot of work.
ReplyDeleteI was going to mention what Mark did. I just saw that scene in a movie I watched - Man on a Ledge. I see you've decided to change it though.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite shows was based on being hit by space debris: Dead Like Me. It didn't last very long though.
Elsie
Space junk is the worst, especially when it melds with your brain...
ReplyDeleteThis is one super-packed post, Stephen. Books sound very interesting and now that I don't have to worry about space junk or half-eaten apples, I'll settle down and do some reading.
ReplyDeleteWow- so much info my head is spinning.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, the expression "nothing new under the sun" really is true. Most of my ideas, really, are fragements and bits and pieces of other stories, movies, TV shows, books, music, art, you-name-it that i've enocuntered. But you know what? that's ok- cause no one else in the world will make of it what I do.
I think of Armageddon and Deep Impact- same exact premise, two VERY different movies. And I have no doubt that your story is unique enough that even if a scene strikes a reader as something they've seen before your writing, your characters and your arc will be unique. That's my take, at least.
I'm on board for the thrill of it all at end of the month, looking forward to it!
And I LOVE these space facts you share- so fun!
So sorry to hear about the new challenges with the chapter. I hope you don't have to rewrite the whole thing.
ReplyDelete