Reconnecting

Even though this is an edit of a third-ish draft, I have been rewriting some chapters here and there to boost their effectiveness. I have written and re-written some of these chapters several times in a week, which I have mentioned before... but there is something about it...

*intentional dramatic pause*

The struggle makes the success sweeter.

A writer friend and a member of my critique group asked me what Étienne was going to do to get his wife back. She wanted to know if he would do something "over the top." I told her no.

I lied.

Her simple question led me to think about it all day yesterday. When I started to write last night, the words and the emotion and the scope flooded out of me. I've now got the next draft almost done and I'm pleased though I'm missing one thing at the end...

The big, life-altering, mind-blowing, commitment-affirming kiss.

And trying to write something like that reminds a writer of a very big fact. As writers, everything we do must capture a truth of human existence. If this kiss does not capture every magic glimmer of their relationship, then I have failed.

Makes you want to test some kisses...

Empathy

Writers must possess incredible empathy-- and our empathy extends to things in the imagination.

I mentioned about a week ago that Basilie had thrown Étienne out, smack dab in the middle of what was supposed to be revisions to my second manuscript, Courting Apparitions. In order to understand the why, especially since it happened so suddenly and not as part of the drafting process, I went back and read the whole manuscript for clues (and they were there!)

But then I realized, I had a very pregnant woman, under emotional duress, and bad memories tormenting her not only in regards to how jealous her relationship makes her but also the fear associated with pregnancy.

I am now in the process of writing out what happened in Basilie's last pregnancy, even though I only need snippets for the chapter. I have to really understand what happened to her even though I can tell you in a succinct sentence what happened. And I can tell you in a paragraph how it altered her thinking about herself, her role as a wife, and her present frame of mind.

To capture successfully the magnitude and importance, I need to live the details with her, so her emotional state resonates viable and true in the present scene and doesn't fall flat.

To do that I must share her tragedy.

I'm nine pages into this, and it is very very sad, and I suspect it will take nine more pages to get it all down. In the end, the paragraph or bits of dialogue that reference this event from the chapter in question will automatically have the zing they need because Basilie's memories are now my memories and not merely a question of her internal conflicts and motivations.

Oops.

Earlier this week, I started work on my most recent chapter and discovered, as I moved forward, that I wasn't sure how this chapter would fit in my new outline/draft structure.

I thought I knew where they were going/ what they were doing and -- most importantly-- how it furthered the plot.

But then... Oh then... My female heroine (Basilie) did the unthinkable. In her pregnant hormonal state, she has thrown the male hero (Étienne) out! She threw him out five days before the wedding.

This has stunned me so much, that I have written merely a sentence a day.

Don't you hate it when characters have their own plan? Sometimes it works, sometimes you have to reign them in.

Interestingly, my life has gotten similarly complicated, although my husband did not throw me out.