I’ve devoted time to writing this week. It’s been refreshing. Characters who’ve been having conversations in my head keep on talking. Scenes are moving behind my eyes when I close them. I deep in the story that a few months ago, I didn’t have a clue existed. Question is can I use any of this? A couple of reviews have mentioned a slow beginning.

I understand that it’s important to introduce characters in action while they’re doing something. What if my characters are dining, but the conversation reveals something that I know about a character? For instance, he explains that his grandmother collected Nippon china. Okay, not really important to my plot, but it says something about the character. He’s disclosed something about himself to me, the reader and the other characters. Do I chop it?

I’m four chapters into the story. It’s not a critical decision at this moment. I’ve been thinking about Elmore Leonard’s passing and his famous Rules of Writing. I like Elmore Leonard’s writing. He’s pithy. He’s succinct and down right readable. There’s so much great advice out in the world….how to digest it all and still be me as a writer.

It doesn’t paralyze me, I’m going to try to blast out at least two more chapters today. I’m just thinking more about my process this week than most. Aw heck, I’ll just write what my characters are doing and figure out later what to keep and what to cut. I like the bit about the china though, it’s an interesting quirk about this character. It’s a connective moment between two characters. Meh….too much thinking and not enough writing.