Fruitcake, The Unexpected Way I Found My Voice
It all started shortly after the New Year in 2010 when I was struggling to write, well, anything. I’d fiddled with First Novel a bit, but ultimately couldn’t make a habit of writing, couldn’t find my stride.
Then at work, I stumbled on leftover fruitcake someone had left in the break room. It was cellophane-wrapped, store-bought fruitcake dotted with fluorescent fruit bits.
I was floored. I mean, work isn’t a place to dump unwanted leftovers. I found myself oddly obsessed with this fruitcake, sneaking glances at it whenever I walked past, waiting to see if anyone took a slice (someone did). And when I got home that night, I wrote about this fruitcake. It was only a couple pages, but the most important thing was that it was fun.
After that, I found other things to write about, all of them anecdotal office observations. I submitted a couple of these to the Denver Woman’s Press Club Unknown Writer’s Contest (which I highly recommend). The feedback I got was encouraging, but there was one comment that stood out to me: The main character seems to be on the outside looking in, an observer but not a participant. Why is that?
At the time I thought more about what that comment said about me than what it said about my character, probably because I was my character.
Later that year, I got an idea for a cozy mystery and returned to this character. You see, Lucy was slowly morphing into more of a character and less me, but she still wasn’t quite right. There was something missing. I wrote about 70 pages before abandoning it for something shinier (a.k.a., Sweet Water).
Then a couple months ago, I dusted off my cozy mystery and realized how well that comment I received fits with Lucy’s character. I delved into why she feels like an outsider, and what she’s going to do about it. In a very roundabout way, I found my voice, or rather Lucy’s voice. And I owe it all to leftover fruitcake.
What are the unexpected ways you’ve found your voice?
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