DTD—461, and dialogue that’s too heavy

By Holly Lisle

The conversation between my two MCs at the moment feels pedantic. I cut it a bit short—my characters are headed someplace, and things are about to get hideously ugly…but at the moment, they’re talking about things that are thematic, and important, but as I wrote them felt awfully heavy-handed.

S’okay. That’s the sort of thing I always end up smoothing out and burying deeper in my revision, so I’m letting the dialogue stand. It’ll cool, I’ll get some distance, and I’ll see what it needs to make it better the second time around.

I have a big death planned for Sunday night. I just thought of it tonight when I wrote in yet another new scene card—and it’s perfect. And pretty surprising. So my first night of the new week is going to be something to look forward to.

I’m off tomorrow, and off Saturday—and in spite of taking B vitamins and getting extra sleep, I’m still worn out.

Thank you for the good wishes. I’m pretty sure this is my body reminding me that A) I’m 48, and B) I have a very bad habit of not taking time off even when I need it. So this week I have let a ton of work slide, and I have mostly vegetated. And taken B vitamins, and extra B-12.

I’ll put up the Friday night and Saturday night posts for those of you writing on the weekend.

And I notice our numbers have dwindled. For those of you hanging in, remember…the trick to finishing a novel is doing it even when you don’t feel like it—not doing it in a few desperate rushes of inspiration. Nights like tonight, inspiration is pretty hard to come by.

So if you’re still playing—good going. I’m cheering for you. Even a few words of background, or a reworking of your plot cards on the nights that you just don’t feel like doing anything remind you of your goal, and put you closer to its completion. And leave you with a sense of success for the night.

We are not who we say we are. We are what we do every day. Keep writing. You can do this.

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