Ok, my last post said half a scene from the end, and that’s true. But I haven’t been able to write it. I’m not convinced, somehow, and I can’t commit to picking an ending. I’ve been struggling with the technology in my story. It’s set in the future (sci-fi horror, you see), but the high-tech doesn’t feel like a crucial aspect of the plot. If I could just as easily set it in the here-and-now, then there’s no point in setting it in the future. But I’m convinced that setting it in the future is important to the story. Therefore, my plot has been missing something, some element that could only happen in this time and place and none other.
Today I figured out how to do that, but it requires adding in a whole nother character, probably 2 more scenes, and reworking several of the others. (But see, since I haven’t “finished” it yet, I haven’t rewritten those scenes yet, and they were going to need work anyway. So, it wouldn’t exactly be a waste.) But I’ve gotten rather attached to the parts of the ending that I’ve already written, and I’m afraid it wouldn’t happen quite this way with this extra plot point. Which would mean that this great scene I wrote, that I totally love, may not make as much sense. I might have to kill my darling*. *sniffle*
But would this plot addition overcomplicate things? Can I accomplish the same thing–or something better–in a simpler way? I’m also concerned that if I do add this plot point, it could change the tone pretty drastically, and by adding another character it would shift the balance of the story.
And furthermore, then I’d have to write two more scenes, and do the work to integrate that into the whole rest of the story–which isn’t very long. This is major surgery, on a story this short. Is it really worth it?
Maybe I’ll sleep on it, and come up with something even better tomorrow. (“Speedy” hasn’t exactly been my name so far. Have you noticed that it’s August already?)
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* Good explanation of the phrase here: http://wendypalmer.com.au/2008/09/25/writing-rules-misapplied-kill-your-darlings/
