“I think it’s a pretty good rule not to tell what a thing is about until it’s finished.  If you do you always seem to lose some of it. It never quite belongs to you so much again.”

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

Over three months ago, in a post called My Turn on “The Writing Process” Blog Tour, I described the book I had just started writing:

Book 4 is about another family in conflict over a house, this time a two million dollar beach home that three siblings will inherit upon the death of their wealthy stepmother.

When her sizable liquid assets are stolen by a crooked investor, the stepmother considers selling the beach home to fund her lifestyle in a luxury retirement community. Two of the siblings suggest that she obtain a reverse mortgage on it instead, to keep it in the family and protect their inheritance. But the middle child is secretly grappling with huge debts and unwilling to downsize or compromise. When an unforeseen event occurs, her income drops drastically and her demands multiply. Soon, her hostility toward the woman who took her mother’s place decades ago turns from anger to hatred. How far will she go to get her way, and to get her hands on the money she believes is rightfully hers?

Well, since then, things have changed. Book 4 is still unnamed, and it’s still about a family conflict over real estate and money. However, everything in blue above is no longer true.

What takes the place of what’s in blue? Only my husband and some members of my writer’s group know, and I’m trusting asking them not to disclose anything (or even hint at it) in comments below, or anywhere else. 

Here’s what is still in Book 4:

• a conflict about a house
• an unforeseen event (more than one, now)
• a stepmother, though younger now, and still with sizable liquid assets
• a character who doesn’t like the stepmother, and who wants her money
• suspense

Another change? I’ve added Fitzgerald’s rule to my “Writing Process.”