March 22, 2006
I don't know if the amount of struggle involved in a novel has anything to do with its success. I do know that I seem to be struggling with plotting for the-novel-to-be-identified-later more than I have with any other novel since "The Devil's Pitchfork." In fact, I'm having similar problems.

I wrote a scene where the Senator, after having a bad day and connecting with an old love that is tied into a disaster from years back, goes back to his Georgetown townhouse, pours himself a scotch (Glenmorangie, for those who care) and turns around to find the psycho mercenary standing there.

First version: The psycho holds him at gunpoint and the readers know the psycho is going to use the Senator to get to the main character.

Second version: The Senator looks at the psycho and knows him and says something along the lines of, "You almost gave me a heart attack, sneaking up on me like that. Don't you think how you've handled this mess so far has gotten out of hand?" It ties the Senator into the entire plot, makes him a questionable bad guy and spins the story.

I deleted it and left it with the first version.

And today I'm thinking of rewriting it again. I like what it does to the story, I like how it does it...

But, it's forcing me to figure out how this works, what it does to the first 260 pages I wrote and what it's going to do to the next 100 pages or so that make up the rest of the book. And it's hard!

The key questions I need to ask (not related directly to the story) are:

1. Will it make sense?
2. Will it surprise?
3. Will it make the story better?
4. What will this do to the main character?
5. Can you resolve it in a believable fashion?
6. Does it interest me? This is kind of important actually. I think if I get to this point in a book and I'm cruising along, sure of where I'm going, then I have a Eureka Moment that changes the story, one of the best things it can do for me is sharpen my interest in the story. Because if it makes me sit up and take notice, hopefully it'll do the same thing to the reader.
7. And finally, how the hell do I make the bloody thing work?

Best,
Mark Terry