Revision as Inspired by Rogue Chickens

Those of you who follow me on Twitter may have noticed my tweets about a flock of rogue chickens, in particular this white hen.  She insisted on returning and hanging around the front of our store, even after her brown sisters had wandered back down the street and once again been imprisoned in their coop.

At the time, the writer part of me started asking the ‘what if’ question and wondering why Ms. White Hen wanted so badly to be a store mascot. At least her continuous peering in the front door made me think that’s what she wanted.

At any rate, at the time, I dreamed up stories--and now it appears to be time for revisions.

While cleaning up the shop’s side yard, my husband decided to get rid of a piece of junk plywood and ended up uncovering deeper layers of the white hen’s story. In fact, he exposed all kinds of subplots and story possibilities that never would have seen the light of day if the story had been written down as a first draft.  Okay I’m pushing this analogy, but I’m about a third of the way through revising Devil’s Orchid and what he found was a good reminder to me to continuously keep any eye out for hidden layers and opportunities as I move forward.

The hen’s story ended up being be a tragedy about a lone white bird who longed for her own family, escaped from bondage and laid eggs in secret, but the lack a rooster doomed her to return home and become nothing except an imprisoned egg machine—well, a pretty fat and sassy one, but no matter how you look at it her dream was crushed. 

So, to all of you in the middle of fast drafting or revising, did you uncovered any hidden possibilities in your story this week? 

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