It's a Balancing Act

Scenes Rewritten: 1/20
Scenes Written: 2/8

So far September hasn't been a complete success, but it hasn't been a complete failure either. I've written 1,710 words in the last six days. Obviously, that means I didn't write five hundred words every day. However, some days I did and some days I wrote about half of that.

As I was writing this last scene, I realized that my plot has quite a few problems. My biggest issue seems to be balancing action with character development and more emotional scenes. When I planned out the second draft, I added more of the latter because I thought certain characters needed more time together and that those types of scenes would boost the impact of my climax. Those things remain true, but now I feel like my action has been diluted too much.

This last scene dragged for me. Nothing was really happening. I know that if I think that as the author, readers are definitely going to think that. And I'm afraid the next couple of scenes will be the same way. So, something needs to be added. It doesn't necessarily have to be huge, but it needs to keep the reader's attention, needs to make them want to keep reading.

At the moment, I don't have a lot of ideas. My brain is still on "figuring out the problem" and hasn't yet made the transition to "fixing the problem." I may just go ahead with the second draft as planned and work on the action vs. emotion balance as I'm working through the third draft. This would give me more time to think and hopefully get it right the third go 'round.

That's how my current project is going. What about yours?