Rewriting, Part Three
The adage “If it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage” (attributed to Fred Finkelhoffe), came to mind whilst working on my 3rd draft. I realized that while I know my main characters very well, their passions and motivations weren’t necessarily clear to the reader.
Also, my tendency not to put everything on the page, to want to make the reader work a little bit, might be, rather than clever, just obscure.
People call that writing “too hip for the room.”
I am taking a step back from my characters, to ask questions like, “why is Sara such a wise ass?” “Where is Mr. Crumley coming from?”
I know where my characters begin and where they end up but I think some parts of how they get there, their “journey” to be all literary about it, is not clear.
Pressing onward…