The Three Solution Approach

I just returned from the Whole Novel Workshop put on Highlights Foundation. Wow. It was great. I cannot claim it all smooth sailing. I’m doing a MAJOR revision. This is not mere whining. Those words were used by Stephen Roxburgh and Carolyn Coman. 

The biggest problem with my novel is point of view. In my first discussion with Stephen, we decided there were three possible approaches: 1) make my protagonist female, 2) write the novel in third person and make her female 3) switch the roles of the protagonist and one of the secondary characters. Stephen suggested that the first was the most conservative approach and I should start there. 

The process reminded me of my former life as a laboratory scientist. When something didn’t work, my husband would say, “Think of three ways to solve the problem and do them all.” I already had that skill set, so on the first full day, I rewrote my first chapter three ways. It was immediately obvious I should take approach #3. 

The Three-Solution-Approach works. Trust me. The other writers at the workshop started referring to it as “doing an Ann.”