Season 2, Episode 50: The One Where Kemlo Knows the Future
IN THIS EPISODE
Listen to the preview to find out why...if only we'd known then that spending all your time at home and not going out wasn't actually the best thing ever. We hope everyone is safe and healthy out there.
This week, we talk about wrapping up Abby's story in a nice little bow. This might be Abby's last submission for this draft, but it's not ending in the same place her first draft ended! What will need to happen to convince Abby's protagonist to come back to the real world, instead of staying in the book world forever?
Kemlo advises Abby to put in some scenes to connect her protagonist more to the real world - highlight friends, family, etc. - all of the reasons she might want to come back. We also need to see her protagonist mend her friendships - both with Ralph and with Logan. We need to see her learning what she's meant to learn about friendship, and how to make and keep friends, and how to treat your friends.
The growth that needs to happen is multifaceted and involves the protagonist accepting herself, and the consequences of pretending to be someone you're not. The message we're looking for has to come full circle from the problems we read about at the beginning of the book.
Abby and Mel have three more deadlines - can Abby wrap this up in that amount of time? In her next round of revision, Kemlo advises her to plant more seeds for change within her characters.
“I really thought that my first draft was going to be the biggest milestone - and then I finished and realized there was SO much more work to do in revision...”
It's true, revision is a beast!
But really, isn't it supposed to be, a little bit? You're taking the blob of clay that came out of your brain that definitely resembles a story, and slowly chipping and molding and shaping it into something not only the reader will enjoy, but that you will be happy with as well.
“Sometimes seeing what you don’t want can be as helpful as seeing what you do.”
