Trying Something New

Remind me not to write a relationship-heavy book again. This one’s really kicking my a$$.

When I stalled out a couple weeks ago, I decided to step back, take a deep breath, and think about where I was going with the darn thing. Then, during the drive to Palm Desert (long drives are GREAT for this) I realized I’d committed a fatal error. I’d let my heroine run away from the most dramatic conflict in the book. Um, much as I would probably have done in real life.

So…delete, delete, delete. Let the dog walk himself. Rose stays in the scene to confront her step-sister.

Only, I didn’t have a clue what they’d say to each other. And Sam’s there, too. His stakes are just as important, but different. How would the three interact?

Usually it’s time for a bath when I have these questions. (Baths are only second to driving for summoning the muse.) But that hasn’t worked so far.

I’ve tried playing the scene out in my mind before I drop off to sleep at night.

Still nothing. Or next to it.

So I’ve been paying attention to movies lately. And certain scripted TV shows where dialogue is everything and there’s not a lot of time to tell the story except through the words. A good movie or TV show milks every word for what it’s worth.

That’s what I wanna do.

So, here’s the plan. I’m gonna write just the dialogue. As though the scene’s in a play, not a book. This is called layering and I’ve tried it a couple times. Later, when the words are right, I’ll “layer” in the speech and action tags. The busy stuff around the dialogue. I’m guessing the scene, if done properly, will benefit most by leaving it pretty bare.

Wish me luck.