On Writing & Storytelling: I Wrote Some Stuff Yesterday; I Will Write More Stuff Today

Late Morning/Midday, Friday, August 24, 2023, Lithia, Florida

“Thursday is perhaps the worst day of the week. It’s nothing in itself; it just reminds you that the week has been going on too long.” ― Nicci French, Thursday’s Child

Hi, there, everyone.

Well, here we are on Thursday, Day Five of the average business week and therefore my fifth day devoted to working on my novel and this blog.

It is, predictably because of where I live now, yet another stiflingly hot late summer day here in Lithia. As I begin this, my 1,237^th post on A Certain Point of View, Too, the temperature outside is 87°F/31°C under partly sunny conditions. The feels-like temperature is, of course, higher than that; with humidity at 64% and a northeasterly breeze blowing at 8 MPH/15 KMH, the heat index is 96°F/36°C. Today’s forecast calls for partly sunny skies, a high of 91°F/32°C, and a 20% chance of rain.

Oh, well. Another day of staying in the coolness of an air-conditioned house. Par for the course in this age of gradually hotter summers. At least I’m not out on the street, homeless. And, for the moment, anyway, none of the active tropical systems out there are heading this way.

My Writing Journey Continues

Yesterday afternoon – after a prolonged period of angst that lasted throughout much of the afternoon – I completed Chapter 11’s second scene. Or, at least, the first “somewhat revised” draft of said scene.

Because the scene was nearing the “endpoint” – I am getting better at sensing when these “chapter endings” are coming when I write – I didn’t have to add too many words. Per the Word Count function, I only added 96 “new words” to Reunion: Coda’s “scratch sheet” – the .docx file where I write the first rough ideas and then polish them as best I can before I add them to the “Master Document” that is the “official” first draft of my novel.

I knew, even before I started Chapter 11 where the story was headed because this part of the novel fleshes out an event that is first mentioned in one of the chapters in Reunion: A Story. (If you have a copy of Reunion, the chapter in question is Scenes from a Long Goodbye: June 15, 1983.) This made writing Scenes One and Two relatively easy, although – trust me on this, non-writers! – there was nothing “easy” about writing the first of these.

I knew what had to happen in Scenes One and Two because they expanded a story point introduced – briefly – in a previous story. I knew that Mrs. Quincy was the main character in Scene One and that she had to say “If there’s anything I want you to learn from me is to take advantage of these rare opportunities” in what I call her farewell address.

 
Mark glanced over his shoulder at the black-framed Lathem clock on the cafeteria wall, then, tray in hands, rose quickly from his chair. “Jeez. Lunch period’s almost over, Jim. We better get our asses to our classes. You gonna practice with Marty after school, or what?”
“Yeah,” I said as I, too got up and grabbed my empty canary yellow tray. “We’re meeting up in the chorus room after the last bell.”
“Okay, bud. I’ll see you around, then.”
“Not if I see you first!”
Mark laughed. “Get going, bud…and good luck with your singing practice.”

FIRST REVISED DRAFT, REUNION: CODA, BY ALEX DIAZ-GRANADOS

Scene Two was trickier because it’s a “Mark and Jim” bit in which my narrator-protagonist and his best friend not only discuss the aftermath of what happened in third-period Mixed Chorus class but also almost have another argument about Jim’s reluctance to ask Marty out on a date.

In the chapter’s second scene, I did want to show that there’s tension between them about that topic – Mark thinks Jim should at least tell his crush how he feels about her, while Jim, remembering how his last relationship crashed and burned due to his ex-girlfriend’s infidelity, isn’t so sure if he can do that.

However, because Scene One is serious and somber – and is one of the few events in the Reunion Duology that I drew on from my senior year at South Miami High School – I needed to inject a humorous, lighter tone to the second scene. Which is why, when I wrapped it up yesterday evening, I wrote:

Mark glanced over his shoulder at the black-framed Lathem clock on the cafeteria wall, then, tray in hands, rose quickly from his chair. “Jeez. Lunch period’s almost over, Jim. We better get our asses to our classes. You gonna practice with Marty after school, or what?”

“Yeah,” I said as I, too got up and grabbed my empty canary yellow tray. “We’re meeting up in the chorus room after the last bell.”

“Okay, bud. I’ll see you around, then.”

“Not if I see you first!”

Mark laughed. “Get going, bud…and good luck with your singing practice.”

There are, of course, a few more jokes and light banter in Scene Two, but because Scene One was such a downer – for me, anyway – I decided to go with a more comedic approach to this endpoint.

Action This Day

“This must be Thursday,’ said Arthur to himself, sinking low over his beer. ‘I never could get the hang of Thursdays.”― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

As always, my plan is to take a break for a while (an hour, maybe two) from writing, then come back to work on Reunion: Coda. On today’s agenda: Write the third and final scene of Chapter 11, or at least get it started.

Now, even though Chapter 11 is based on pre-existing material from Reunion: A Story, its concluding scene is going to be tougher to write than the first two. I’ve addressed the two issues hanging over Jim’s head in this particular part of his story – Mrs. Quincy’s unexpected departure from Cobra Country and his continuing struggle with his emotions for Marty – so in theory, the chapter could end there, and I would then return to Jim’s Spring 2000 “present day” setting and story.

However, my instincts – which aren’t that great sometimes, or else I’d have finished this first draft by now – tell me a third scene is needed. My problem is, what happens in this scene and who is in it? Do I stay on Wednesday, March 16 and write a “Jim and Marty” scene before, during, or after an afternoon run-through of “Somewhere”? Or do I do a little time jump – say, to the next school day – and introduce Mr. Abner (who is based on our real-life replacement chorus teacher, Mr. Abney).

Again, since I hate outlines, I am making this story up as I go, so I have no idea (as I write this) which way I should go. I’ll have to eat lunch, rest, and dwell on the matter during my rest break first, and then decide.

See, this is why I absolutely resent it when a non-writer says I’m not a “real” writer and that what I do is a “hobby.” Writing is an actual occupation, and if I accept money for it in any way, whether it’s a payment from a client or in the form of royalties, that makes me a professional writer. Sitting in a closed-off room in front of a computer and writing anything with the expectation of being paid is work, no matter what others might think or even say. And – especially in the way I write fiction – writing a novel is difficult (if rather rewarding in many ways) work.

Anyway, I’ve reached the endpoint of this post, so until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.