On Writing & Storytelling - Reunion: Coda Update: The Story Moves Forward As Chapter 11 Ends, Chapter 12 Begins
Hi, all. Just a quick update to say that last night I completed the fourth and final scene of Chapter 11 in Reunion: Coda. Sure, right now it's still in "first draft mode," but I'm just content with the knowledge that after more than a month of trying different approaches to the scene, I finally "cracked the code" - as it were - of how to present this deceptively simple-looking part of the chapter. (It never ceases to amaze me how this scene, which I thought would be easy because it's based on a plot point introduced in Reunion: A Story , took me nearly two months to write.) Here's an excerpt from the scene, which also puts me over both the 50,000-word mark and the 120-page mark in the novel’s manuscript. If Hollywood told my story like a movie, it would go something like this: I’m a smart and nerdy senior at South Miami High School, class of '83. I love history and music, and I have a crush on Marty, the most beautiful girl in the choru...