New Hat

In my last blog post, I wrote about how my old water aerobics hat had gotten faded without my noticing.  What was once cute was now shabby.  I decided I needed a new hat and went on a quest.
 
After looking locally and finding only blah tan hats, I decided to order one off Etsy.  Because so many people list their handmade items there, I had a huge variety of patterns to choose from. Should I get one particularly appropriate to water exercise, such as the hats with whales or with rubber duckies wearing tiaras? Or should I get whatever pattern appealed and not try to be thematic?  I peppered the sellers with questions:  How wide was the brim?  Could they make a special order?  
 
Finally, I selected a polka-dot hat.  The brim was generous without being so wide it would drag in the water.  The light-colored material would be cool.  It had a toggle I could fasten under my chin for windy days. The seller would swap out the standard lime green lining for a darker, more glare-resistant material.  What color would I like?  Pink, I decided.

As I placed the order for my custom hat, I contrasted this process to the way I got the last hat.  One day I was walking through Macy’s, right by a table of clearance accessories.  Everything was jumbled together:  purses in odd shades of green, belts with huge buckles, tiny, zebra-print pocketbooks that would hold no more than lipstick and a credit card.  And sitting in that pile of miscellany, a bucket hat with sexy cowgirls on it.  I had no use for such a hat, but I wanted it. (I often find clothes and jewelry in the clearance section that I love and no one else seems to.)
 
So what does this have to do with writing?  Well, to me, it seemed like a metaphor for the difference between how I write novels and short stories.  Short stories, for me, mostly happen serendipitously.  I see something like a squirrel’s poor attempt to hide an avocado, and a story is born.  I’m essentially walking by the clearance table and am inspired to grab an intriguing detail.  A story (especially a flash fiction) is an impulse buy. 
 
Novels can start with a momentary impulse or small detail, too, but I’ve found that as the writing process continues, I need to become more calculating and selective. If the character does that, will I run into trouble later?  What can I do now to plant the seeds for a development coming towards the end of the book?  I don’t outline, but by the time I’ve written around half the novel, I do have a general idea of where I will end. 

Novels cannot completely be impulse buys.  At some level, you have to make sure the plot elements you get suit your overall purpose. Select them as carefully as a new hat.