So that's what this story is about...

One of the most satisfying parts about being a journalist is when you get what I call the "boom!" quote. It's the part of any interview when your subject/source utters something so perfect, so profound, so tightly woven that you suddenly understand what the real story is.

Boom, you say, scribbling madly in your notebook so that you don't forget a single word. That's what this story is about.

I finished a freelance article today. The version I turned in bears no resemblance to the first draft. What changed? I got a BOOM! quote last night from a source I hadn't even originally planned to interview. The minute she uttered the words, I practically swooned in my chair. That's what this story is about.

The funny thing is, the same thing happened this week with my book. I was "writing in my head" (which as any writer knows is just about 90 percent of the writing process), and out of nowhere, my hero uttered a BOOM! quote. Not only was it perfectly pitched dialogue, it also -- more importantly -- completely solved the plot problem I've been writing and re-writing around FOR MONTHS.

I almost crashed my car because I used both hands to smack my forehead. That's it! I screamed. That's what this story is about.

(Of course, I then spent a good ten minutes mentally kicking myself for not figuring this out a helluva lot sooner. Grrr....)

Both BOOM! moments reminded me that as writers - whether we're fiction authors or journalists or both -- we have to be ready to step back and let our characters tell the story. If we aren't willing to do that, we will never really see the story beneath the story. We will never find the deeper themes that make a story memorable. We will never truly understand what the story is about.