Season 2, Episode 41: Killing A Darling

Abby agonized over her pages this week - she had to kill a darling! She re-wrote chapters 18 and 19, and originally had brought in the BFG as another book character to incorporate in her story. She put a lot of time and effort into it and was really happy with it. But in the course of re-writing the chapters, the plot changed, and Abby realized she didn't need the BFG anymore. For a while she tried to work him back into the story, but soon realized he didn't really serve a purpose. 

Ultimately, before making the decision to cut the BFG, Abby asked herself: "Why is this guy there?" She couldn't find an acceptable answer. His presence didn't necessary move the story forward, but she's keeping him in the back of her mind in case he can come back later.

She replaced the BFG with something that works better - Scooby Doo and Shaggy! She even went to a local comic book store in search of Scooby Doo comics and bought a bunch of Scooby Doo cartoons (research, guys!). She was asking herself the following questions - how do these characters talk, move, react? How do they relate to each other? The point  in Abby's decision to incorporate Shaggy and Scooby is that they're good friends, and it gives Abby's protagonist a visual of what she wants, what she's searching for throughout the story: a good friend. 

Abby's still working on getting more magic in her story, to building up the book world that her protagonist sort-of lives in. What the characters understand about their world, how they relate to their reality, etc. - this is the kind of second tier world-building that goes beyond the "rules" of the magic and draws the reader further into the work. 

Kemlo cites something Jennie Nash said a while ago, in that "There's an element to world-building to any work of fiction - whatever it is, you have a lot of the same considerations, especially that struggle in weaving in those features and aspects of the world without it being an infodump." 

We go into great detail on how Abby's incorporating comic book features into her book - these Scooby Doo characters make noise when they move around, bob their heads, etc. How do you write onomatopoeia consistently? Describe it well, once - you can make your own shorthand to reference it later, as long as it's consistent. 

Shoutout to listener Umar, who listens to us on one-and-a-half speed! We're impressed that you can handle the sound of our voices at that rate. ;)