Pass the Spackle

We’re still making progress on these first drafts that have occupied us since, seemingly, time began. As we mentioned a few weeks ago, we reached the end but still had a few holes to fill in. Since then we’ve made progress toward that goal. Not blazing progress. It’s more of a shamble, which we’ll blame partially on project fatigue and partially on life getting in the way.

The latest deficit to grab our attention is emotional holes and placeholders. Places where we’ve written, “She was angry,” or “He was sad,” or even “What they saw was very interesting,” but there’s no detail, no followup. The moments aren’t expanded or lived in, they’re just inert. It’s the classic trap of telling rather than showing, and we’re working hard on shifting the balance the other way. That’s what’s been occupying Jen most recently.

We also noticed that we had two particular characters who never shared a scene, and it felt like they should. The challenge was making their meeting relevant to the plot. They couldn’t just get together for a drink and chat about sports. It had to mean something. So Kent tackled that and finished it up last night.

If we fuck around with these first drafts much longer they’ll no longer be first drafts, which means that we might need a couple of you guys to come over and take them away from us. New life goal = not letting it come to that.