I actually have the opposite problem! I have TOO MANY readers/CPs! I’m trying to figure out what authors I admire do, see where I’m going wrong. I seem to have so many people (some of them writers) who want to read for me, and I can’t say ‘no’. Once I’m done with revisions on my current project, I seriously have 8 people who want to read it/give feedback. Not counting my agent.

I feel bad about telling some of them ‘no’! *sigh*

Thanks very much, though. Maybe I need to work towards cutting back….

And the main character may really be the aging Sheriff who’s investigating the “death” of my current main character and stumbles on a war between a mage and the vampires of the city. This sets up an interesting comparison between the Sheriff who has a big family with kids and grandkids (that he doesn’t really appreciate) and the other characters who’ve all lost those dear to them. Especially the mentor vampiress, who is ancient and seen and experienced so many things and yet has never experienced the love of kids and grandkids that the Sheriff has.

Or not. (That might just be a subplot.)

This writing stuff is hrd.

• What is the one thing my character needs to achieve his desperately important goal in this scene?
• What is the one thing someone or something else can do that will prevent him from doing that?

Turn your unstoppable object loose against your immovable force, and make life as difficult as you can for both.

If you want to write that quickly, ask yourself how it would benefit you. If you can come up with legitimate reasons, your muse will probably decide to cooperate. If you just want to do it because your left brain is a workaholic, don’t expect a lot of cooperation from your muse.

My right brain looks at a spreadsheet, recoils with “Gott in Himmel, that looks like WORK!” and flees the scene.

But that waffling and trying things out is an important part of the whole fiction-writing process.