Yeah! A thousand words before kids are up. I should do more, I know, but I have this tiny problem. At half-way through my first draft, I still don’t know exactly what my main character wants. Oops. It seems clear that she wants to be accepted, but that’s already fine. Because even though the people she wants to break in with are mean to her, yadda, yadda, she has a nice group of friends.
Shoot.
I need a hook.
She needs for some reason to be unacceptable. Or to want something else that’s too hard to get. What would a freshman at a prestigious boarding school want? An upperclassman boyfriend? (Yeah, she wants that.) Academic recognition? (Who doesn’t? They’re channeling into the Ivy League.) A magic wand? (Just kidding.) I know what she wants in her Sophomore year, and her Junior. Do I bag draft one (year one) and skip to the next? Here’s the problem with that. I get distracted so easily, I may dread coming back to first year.
Maybe I need to introduce a competition where she can either excel or sabotage her nemesis. Then I’ll just need to give her the skills to succeed (and a nemesis – we all need one of those). And here I sit, staring at the wall, wondering what the competition should be. I think I need to go for a walk. A long one. Without music, just to fill my brain with many, many fine ideas for intrigue and contest.
Or at least burn off last night’s popcorn indulgence.