Saving persperation via preparation!
Sun 2005-07-24 21:32:33 (in context)
- 45,425 words (if poetry, lines) long
- 52.00 hrs. revised
Still haven't written Chapter 7. But that's OK. I finished editing Chapter 6 today, discovered Chapter 6 hadn't really been finished yet, and added material that set up Chapter 7 quite well.
Problem: Brian has his "OMG I'm Out Of Control" meltdown far too soon after Amy arrives--to wit, the very night she shows up. Seemed to me that I needed his instinctual reaction to being near her to gradually become more and more intense over several encounters. But when it came time to write out the chapter outline, that made for a lot of repetition, a la "Brian and Amy sit on the couch, engage in a little necking, and The Monster Within Wakes UP! Only, worse this time than last time. (Two more of these until Brian goes nuclear.)" So instead the realization and breakdown had to all happen in their initial reunion.
Apparently, the solution to "isn't that too sudden?" is "Damn straight it's sudden, it's hella sudden!" The trick is to up the stakes at the end of Chapter 6, making Brian's out-of-controlness, as well as his horror at meeting the beast within, more intense. Intense enough to make him immediately decide there and then that Amy won't be safe around him, setting him up to pull his disappearing act in Chapter 7. Intense enough that Todd notices all the running around and doors slamming, setting him up to pow-wow with Amy throughout her debut as narrator.
So Chapter 7 is looking a lot more plausible. Now I just have to decide what scenes, out of the several possible ones in my head, will happen during the beginning and middle of that chapter.
Meanwhile, this blog is going to be moving shortly. Awhile back, I took advantage of one of Drak.net's periodic Lifetime Account sales, and purchased NicoleJLeBoeuf.com--hey, all the big kids got 'em, why not me? Anyway, I'm finally starting to do something with the new domain. There will be links between the two websites until I finally port over all the blog archives and functionality, at which point this directory will helpfully redirect visitors. All three of 'em. Stay tuned.