Season 2, Episode 45: The Curious Case of the Spaghetti Jar Incident In the Night
OK, so it didn’t happen at night. But it was curious.
IN THIS EPISODE
This week, Abby takes her edits into overdrive. Listen to the first 5 to 10 minutes for her process in taking Jennie's edits from the first draft and incorporating them into her revision. Mel's working on her edits from her last chapter, and Kemlo said she needs to work on tension in her scene based on what she has in her Two-Tier / Inside Outline. They're small fixes - there's a lot going on in the scene, but the decisions on her protagonist's shoulders do not feel hard. The reader needs to see some push and pull, instead of "upsetting things" that her characters get pulled through.
“There should be some sort of internal conflict, there should be a struggle - let’s make it more difficult for this character to decide what to do.”
Not only that, but Kemlo says we need to know WHY it's hard, and the prose needs to reflect the tension and plot lines need to reflect the Two-Tier / Inside Outline. Kemlo's recommending that she work on an outline for the chapter to tighten up the scenes. The Inside Outline is especially useful for chapters with many scenes, locations, and purposes, and Mel used it to delineate by location. In that scene, she made a point for each character and where their story is going. She says it helped highlight was missing in the scenes and clarify motivations.
“Show us what she’s hoping for, and what she’s fearing - that is what we need to move the story forward.”
Mel checked out a bunch of thrillers from the library for reference, and Kemlo advised her to pay particular attention to the things she wants to work on in her own novel - what the characters are thinking, feeling, anticipating, and fearing/avoiding. Sometimes it can be helpful to see how another writer balances the internal/external aspect in character and plot development - either in a finished book or a work in progress from a friend.
This week's book rec: Deep Work, by Cal Newport.
