Did a page or so of thingee*. Then was thinking, while I mowed the back yard, about this book I was trying to read in a waiting room today. It's hard for me to finish reading published novels because writing has ruined me for reading. I'm pretty sure I won't be finishing this one, either. However, I was thinking, while mowing, about the thingee I started, and about how there's a page of it and almost all of that is internal blah blah about how the character feels. I had intended to sit down and actually set the scene and write it in scene. But no, it came out all feelings. Then (while mowing) I realized that the book I'd been trying to get through in the waiting room had almost no feelings in it. It's very internal--yet I read maybe half the book and I still have no clue how anybody felt. That's not necessarily a handicap for a book (especially if the book is plot-driven; this one wasn't), but it's generally not on my top ten list of things I enjoy reading. Or writing.

So I was thinking, maybe I need to go through my ms and consider in more detail how the two non-POV MCs (don't know what else to call them; they're not the MCs, but they're not minor characters) feel as the story unfolds. I hate to think the whole stinkin' book out step by step for two different characters (besides the one I've already done it for, the main MC), but maybe I should at least try. Sometimes I do think out scenes from non-POV characters' POV, but usually only for key scenes or to figure out what to do with bare-bones first draft dialog that I have to flesh out into a full scene. But with this book, since I'm working to stretch into a more plot-driven type of writing, maybe I'll have to go the extra mile. Otherwise, the story may not be "alive" like it should be.

Usually--maybe(?)--I start with feelings and work to let the story fall into place around them. With this ms, I'm trying to learn to start with story. I probably have to learn how to do feelings when they are set off or driven by what happens in the plot. I'm not at all sure how to approach this, or if I'm even on the right track. Will keep thinking.

No more writing today, though. Out of time.


*(my def. of "thingee"--pre-writing from any character's pov; usually helps flesh out and deepen ms; not often used in actual book although sometimes it can be cannibalized and pieces of it stuck in here and there)