Writer’s Shop Talk: Discussing the End of Chapter 24 of Reunion: Coda in the Chill of a Miami Morning

Mid-Morning, Thursday, February 6, 2025, Miami, Florida

“After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” ― Philip Pullman

It’s a bit past 6:30 on a chilly – by Florida standards, at any rate – morning here in Miami. It’s still dark outside, and the temperature is a “brisk” 69°F (21°C) under clear skies. Sunrise is at 7:02 AM EDT, and by the time I post this on WordPress, good old Sol will be making his grand entrance, painting the sky in lighter shades of blue.

I’m thrilled to share that I finished Chapter 24 of Reunion: Coda yesterday, wrapping it up with a fourth and final scene that I managed to pen in less than two hours, thanks to the outline I whipped up Tuesday afternoon. As many of you know, meticulous planning isn’t my thing when it comes to the creative process. I’m more of an improvisational storyteller, letting my characters and situations reveal themselves bit by bit in a mental game of “And Then What Happens?” rather than creating a detailed, beat-by-beat outline that charts the whole course of my novel. In other words, I’m what the industry calls a “seat of the pants” writer – a “pantser,” for short.

This approach has its pros and cons. Many early chapters of my first novel naturally fit into my “let the story tell itself” ethos because they were built on the foundation of my novella Reunion: A Story. This novella was partly based on my memories from being a senior at South Miami Senior High in June 1983. The novel serves as both a prequel and a sequel to the shorter, well-regarded work. Leaning heavily into my own experiences at South Miami, a significant portion of Reunion: Coda was well-suited to my unstructured writing style.

On the other hand, improvisation can only take me so far. Although I still enjoy playing the game of “And Then What Happens?”, crafting a satisfying ending to a character-driven story requires more meticulous plotting than my usual improvisational approach allows. It’s one thing to let characters and situations reveal themselves organically, but ensuring everything ties together in a compelling conclusion demands a higher level of planning and precision.

So, yeah. That outline I worked on Tuesday afternoon really paid off yesterday. In less than two hours, I had the first draft of Chapter 24’s Scene Four done. I don’t remember the exact word count of the original version, but I spent a few hours finessing the scene until I was satisfied with the results. Now it’s 652 words long—less than three pages of fresh copy. I think it’s pretty good, but I’ll wait to see what my trusty Beta Reader, writer/poet Denise Longrie, thinks before considering this version the definitive one.