Day 146

Spoiler Alert! May contain planning-stage plot/character details or other spoilers!

25 Jan 2017

Gone retro today - #tomsawyer #outlawred #mainstreet #vintagebooks . . .

A photo posted by KAIE (@kaie.space_author) on

Predictably, I’m starting to worry about the direction of the story. Not that it’s a bad one; lots of potential for teen angst and paranormal darkness in this version, which ought to be good for ratings. It’s still a step away from the story I was trying to tell, about a girl who doesn’t know how to know what she wants b/c her world hasn’t given her the chance to learn. Which is a terrible story to tell, when effective storytelling is (apparently) all about protagonist wants and motivation… But in trying to keep both those things on the table, I just keep spiralling away from the core idea. Which is perhaps necessary, but worrying, as I’ve also thrown away all of the alternate drafts, despite how promising they seemed. I’m also terrible at quick/high-level summations of plot; I get wordier as I go on. The good news (if I keep this plot) is that I’m planning right down to detailed scenes now. And a lot of the plot elements that arose out of all the alternate plots are proving useful even as motivations and characterization shifts. So it’s like I’ve told the same story half a dozen ways to mean a different thing each time.

Another issue - one that’s always been there - is likability. Proper heroes are good and appealing, and have to overcome challenges that may bring out some of their failings and confront those issues, but they overcome. Angsty teen heroes, apparently in my mind at least, start out obsessing over, or adamantly attached to, their failings and need help expressing any virtues at all. They overcome by owning their failings and learning who they are and how best to work within those parameters. Instead of becoming good, they become themselves, but empowered and more confident. They need to hear: you’re ok. You can do this. Instead of: you need to change. You need to be different.

Wednesday

Start Time: 1:30 pm

Location: Abbotsford; home; couch

drinking: hot spiced orange juice

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