I’m excited

whenever a writer happens to get through a rough patch, or reconnect with a character, or discover what is making the scene flat, or so on, s/he gets excited. Or at least I do. Last night, during and after football, I was working on this chapter that I didn’t like much. It’s from Alexander’s point of view and I hadn’t felt like I connected with him very well. He wasn’t shining through in this chapter. In fact, nobody was quite themselves. Well, except Lise. She’s always herself.

So anyhow, I was tinkering on this chapter. I was poking at some of the dialog and trying to bring more of the characters to the surface. And suddenly things clicked. I found them. It was like they were hiding behind a curtain and I pulled it back and yanked them out and they were abashed for a moment, then they got down to the business of being themselves. Whew. It was a relief. For a little while there, I was afraid they were going to be made out of cardboard. Heck, I was afraid they were as thin as the paper they were written on. Even thinner. Pixel thin.