Today started out as a struggle. I’m on the tail end of a cold so I’m between healthy and…well, grumpy. I don’t feel bad enough to use it as an excuse to not writing, but I'm a little grumpy and I don’t want that to affect my writing. Not to mention, I’m writing about the characters I’ve just started to like. I don’t want my grumpiness to color my judgment. Of course, you have to go on, even if you are grumpy, so I’m currently in the middle of my 1666 journey for the day. At this time I have 855 words.

When I first started this morning, I was working on a delicate scene that I’ve struggled with in the past. Ian is an alcoholic. No one talks about it, but everyone is aware of it. There is a scene where Kelly thinks she should ask him not to drive because he has been drinking, but she hesitates and doesn’t intervene. Ian leaves the house and heads to a bar. This scene needs to be very powerful because it foreshadows the turn of events that sends the lives of the two couples into a tailspin. It also falls in line with the theme of Kelly not speaking up when she knows something. She suffers in silence for the sake of appearances.

The more I write, the clearer things become. So, as I’ve mentioned in previous postings, Lives Lived deals with two couples. One couple is introduced immediately, and the first quarter of the story is about their lives. The second couple is not introduced until later in novel. This could cause some confusion because readers have already become endeared to Gabrielle and Jonah and their story before Ian and Kelly are even introduced. Not only does it have the ability to throw the reader off, it could also cause some issues with readers relating to one couple over the other. I don’t think main characters should be inserted at the climax of the story. I need them to enter the novel at the same point Gabrielle and Jonah do. That will cut out some of the flashbacks as well. I will be able to write the story straightforward instead of falling into flashbacks so much.

I need some strong chapters about Ian and Kelly that coincide with the first few chapters about Gabrielle and Jonah. I’m going for a certain cadence, a sort of complex “Choose Your Own Adventure” type feel. I want the readers to understand that both couples had choices and their lives are the results of their actions and thoughts. You can choose to be sick and weak but you can also decide to be strong and powerful. It doesn’t matter what hand you are dealt. You have to make the decision yourself.

I feel like I’ve got a good plan. Today I want to spend some time working on a character sketch for Ian. I feel like it was very helpful in further developing Kelly’s character. I have to work in a few hours and I think I owe myself some pilates and yoga before then so I’m off to do that. Stay tuned. There will be more….soon.