Progress has been slow and painful the past couple of days. I’m at the beginning of Act II and I think I may be missing a scene or two. The problem is, I’m not sure which ones. The last couple of days I’ve been trying to fill in what I thought was missing.
I’m not explaining this very well. The scene I hit requires a lot of emotion. However when I first wrote it, I dashed it down. I didn’t want to face those emotions any more than the heroine did. The scene and the sequel had the barest minimum to carry the characters through it. In and out, cut and dry. So the first pass was to go back and add internalization around the dialogue. What were they thinking/feeling as they said these lines.
Better, but it still felt glossed over. Yes, there’s a lot of sexual tension in this part too… Or rather there should have been. Went back to add that in. Imagery? Oh yeah, that might be helpful too, they don’t exist in a vacuum or on an under-funded community college theatre stage.
It still feels like it’s missing something and that the pacing is off. According to my plan, I’m about 10 pages short of what I was thinking. Definitely missing a scene or two or at least a POV shift at this point.
The good news is that we’ve found a fantastic dentist here. DH has a bad history with dentists, including taking off his own braces. Anyway, he had to get a filling and a vertical fracture in another tooth repaired yesterday. After multiple shots of novocaine, he was still feeling pain when the dentist touched his gums. The dentist did what he could on the teeth themselves and said he’d reschedule and put him under general anesthesia to finish up the deep cleaning because he refused to hurt him.
Now, if I could only get this NaNo thing rescheduled…
No, I just need to jump back in and see if I can hit 2400 words or so today. I can do this! Forward progress is the key. Don’t look back… keep going.
Although, I bet some nitrous oxide would help with life beyond NaNo… Hmmm…
That is so hard! I completely agree.
I find (and this is weird) that when I go to bed thinking about a scene, often I dream it — and, if it wakes me up, I get up and write it while I’m still in that sleep stupor.
One of my favorite scenes came about this way – I think you saw it, the one where Faela sees Brennid’s mark for the first time.
Anyway, GOOD LUCK! I know you can do it!
Thanks, Bria!
DH joked last night that I should have lots of time to write while he’s gone this week and not home making me watch TV. I’ll probably just end up going to be when the kids do instead like usual. That will help too.
Usually, I find I’m much more productive in the mornings when I first get up for the day than in the evenings or late at night.
I’m nearly caught up for today, only about 600 more words to go! I’ll post again when I give up completely for the day. But right now a nap sounds good.