Too many threads to the story
I’m coming up on the final scene angst. Can I make it dramatic enough? Will there be enough tension? I’ve slowed down, playing with scene order, trying to figure out where chapter breaks fall. I blame a lot of this on my MC, especially in light of the conversation we had this weekend:
Me: Enough. Don’t give me any new information.
Lillian: I thought you wanted to get to know me?
Me: I do, but there are too many facets here, too many story threads. Can we just concentrate on a few?
Lillian: But that would be to tell less than the whole story.
Me: Readers might not want to wade through every little subplot.
Lillian: I guess you can take care of that in the edits, then. If you are following me through this story, you are stuck with my side paths and pit stops.
Me: Could you just tighten it up a little bit?
Lillian: No. I don’t really want to. You climbed inside my head, you deal with it.
Me: But any more sub plots are going to add too many words and not all of them are resolving. We really only need the story of the cave and you and Nate and your reconciliation…
Lillian: My reconciliation is causing you problems?
Me: Well, yeah. There’s your family, your grandfather, your career hopes, your struggle against the times you live in, your feelings about your social status, and it keeps going on and on.
Lillian: Look, you’re the writer. I’m just telling you what’s going on. Cut some, combine some…whatever it is you do in the rewrite. I can’t stop telling you what’s happening.
Me: Are you nervous about going back in that cave?
Silence
Me: I can understand that. I’m nervous to write it. I don’t know what will happen.
Lillian: Yes. I’m scared. Really scared.
Me: Is that why you keep dithering, throwing more at me?
Lillian: Um. Well.
Me: Okay. I can deal with this. I’ll keep following you and keep writing, but you know we have to go back in there. We have to resolve the story.
Lillian: You can just keep writing. I mean, we can stretch the last three days of the story waaayyy out and tie other loose ends up. There’s no rush, right?
Me: There is and you know it. I’ll do this: I’ll write everything you say and follow every path you present. In return, you will have to enter that cave before the end of the week in my time.
Lillian: We’ll see, okay? I’m really scared.
Me: So are the other characters and you are dragging it out for all of us.
Lillian: Oh! That’s not good. Okay, I’ll try. One week.
Me: Good. And these edits are going to be interesting.
Do I get to be a beta reader
@dlg I’ll keep you posted on edit progress. The fifteen-year-old daughter of a friend of mine will beta also. Still plugging away.