Fresh Voices

American Idol- Simon keeps talking over and over again about the Wow Factor, that something special that makes you stand out, that makes people like and remember you. As a creative person, I understand that, recognize it intuitively, but am scared that TWF is something you either have or don't- you can't learn IT.

Mandisa has it, yes, indeed. Chris has GOT it. Katharine hints at it. Taylor plays at it. Kellie manufactures it. Elliott and Paris need like hell to find some of it. On this show you have to do it better than the original or do it completely different. Mandisa does the first, Chris does the second and I wish there was a way for me to figure it out.

(BTW- you heard it here first: Chris Daughtry is the 5th American Idol. I'm already setting money aside to buy his first album)

American Writer- I've spent the past days- hell, the past weeks- searching for story ideas. (I know, I hear all of you real writers out there, saying, "I have tons of ideas and not enough time to write them!" Good for you. Me, I've had several ideas shot down for this novella already and now I'm feeling so insecure that my mind has gone blank. (There really ought to be an online store where you can charge plots on your credit card at 3 o'clock in the morning.))

I've been struggling with a synopsis for this witch anthology and while I know the heroine and have sketched story arcs for the secondaries, something is missing. That essence or theme that will make this story more than a story; that plot twist or character revelation that will draw the reader in and then grab them. That Wow Factor.

I can't get my hands on what it is. And I'm quickly losing my confidence since the partial is due in ten days. I want to do something different, I want to freshen my voice. Yet I need to keep a certain inherent promise to meet my Blaze readers' expectations, and more importantly, deliver on the anthology premises the editor came up with. In fact that may be what's holding me back at the moment, is knowing there are certain things that have to be in the story that I hadn't planned on when I proposed it.

So what is that Wow Factor in fiction? What will make my story stand out? What can I say that hasn't been said before or said in a particular way? And where the hell is the phone number for that idea store?