In Between the Murders

Here we are at the tail end of Camp NaNo: April Edition. I took a nice break from my vampire novel and wrote something completely different. I set myself a nice, easy little goal of 2,000 words, just to get me writing, not to stress me out. I ended up with over 4,000 words. A tiny victory.

It was just a little half-baked story about time travel, but it did make me realize something important. I had the basic setup in place, and I had an idea for something that would happen, you know, later. Like, there would be other things, and I would build character relationships naturally over the course of these things. And then when I got to the later thing, it would be more… not just sensical, but more satisfying. Like we earned it. But I got bored and skipped over all the in-between things, and then the big scene was just lacking in… stuff.

And I know, that is the exact problem I'm having with Cold Blooded. I have these major beats in mind, but without all the character development in between, they're just going to feel flat and blah. But character development isn't murder and isn't as exciting to write. I need my character to make friends, and I don't know how to make friends. I know how to kill people (in a purely academic, non-psycho way). But it's important that he makes friends, because I need those relationships to progress to a certain point in order for later plot points to work. And I don't even mean romantic relationships. I mean purely platonic friendships. I need a level of trust in them that will allow my main character to reveal his secrets, and a level of closeness that will cause him to fear losing his new friends. When I put it that way, it makes my book sound really boring, but I swear it's not. Or at least, I don't think it is. It's not supposed to be.

So anyway. I need to start thinking of character development as important and not just filler. Of course, that means I need to present it in a way where it's not just filler. Things have to matter, and propel the plot forward. And that's the hard part. It feels like anything that's not murder related isn't relevant, but it is, because life is what you do in between the murders. And this guy has to have a life. It's being interrupted and threatened by all this chaos. And he has to fight to preserve that life, to keep these friends he's somehow made.

Now that Camp NaNo is over, I'll probably be getting back into this novel. I'll try to post more than once a month, but I make no promises.

I'll see you in May.