I'm indecisive. I should take some time to sit and think. Make a choice.It feels odd for me to call anything like it is. I write stories about people I make up. I'm not published so I can't call myself an author.
The same is true to some extent in my daily life. I have kids, so I call myself a mom, but I don't work, so I call myself unemployed. My husband tells everyone I stay at home with the kids by choice-which I do. He and I decided I would be at home when the kids were, so I'm not looking for work and we are blessed enough that I don't need to, either. Hubby also tells people how hard I work-I homeschool our youngest whose special needs class was cut due to school budget issues. I also do all the cooking and cleaning, laundry, and try to work in the time to write while trying to pack up our lives for the impending move taking place sometime in the near future.
I guess what I'm getting at is, there's much more to me than I think there is. (On that note I must thank my loving husband for building me up on a regular basis)
I swear this is leading somewhere!
My long, drawn-out point is: My characters have multifaceted lives. The hardest part of this is knowing what, or where rather, to take their story. Choosing one, specific plotline- of many, maybe too many- to follow.
In my first MS, Between Octobers, the protagonist, Grace, is a yearling widow and mother of two boys with a decade between their ages. She's also a Registered Nurse and fighting depression. As the, story moves on, she meets and falls in love with Evan. Once their lives merge, she struggles to maintain balance on the slippery slope that is blending a family and to maintain a sense of identity through the changes. Grace is also extremely shy and hopelessly naive.
Evan himself suffers the insecurities that often accompany excessive notoriety as well as inexperience in long term relationships. These characteristics create a plethora of possibility, a multi-directional quandary!
Here's the crux:I've let this story flow, create itself. I've followed this couple through their problems and ended up with two separate books. One told from each MCs point of view. I've decided to stick with Graces story. I feel her side would appeal more to women,so it should be told by one. So that problem is solved, but the next cannot be ignored.
Word count. I've hacked and edited and chopped it from 204k down to 148k. Still WAY too big. So indecisive me has more plot threads to cut.
I know of one I can cleanly dispose of without harming the major plot but I don't like doing it.
Then comes the question of the major events. Have I taken them too far? Are my characters suffering too much?
I've struggled with these and hundreds of others. Which road to take, which direction to drive my characters when the possibilities seem endless.
Truth is, these are questions only readers can answer and that's another post, entirely.
