Today was a frustrating writing day. It is one of those days where the well of the brain is drained, and no matter what I did, I had nothing. Block, block, and more block. Usually when this happens to me, it means that I do not know enough (plot, character, motivation, etc.) to move forward.
I believe that I don’t know enough specifics about both my hero and heroine to know how they would react in the plane emergency. I have been skirting around this issue by going with the information I had already written out, but as their interaction in crisis develops, on a smaller or more granular scale, I am not sure how they would act as characters.
In the hero’s case, he has a phobia of flying because he survived a plane crash as a boy. And while I have some general idea of what happened to him in that crash that is triggering his PTSD of the event, I realize I haven’t thought out the scope of his injuries and how that impacts him now as an adult. For instance, I had sketched down that his legs or feet were affected/broken/crushed.
But when I looked up crushed foot injuries tonight, I realized that chances are a crushed foot–if severe enough–would likely result in an amputation. Was the main character and amputee? If so, this will add all kinds of issues that I need to include in his character. Do I want this to be part of his character? (Edit: After writing this, I am leaning towards no. I don’t think I can pull it off as a writer just now.)
I could say that he was miraculously unhurt, but, the plane crash from his childhood was a deadly one. Lives were lost, and it stands to reason that he would have some injuries. How far do I want to take them? Decisions, decisions…
Another issue: How does the heroine react to the hero’s crisis on the plane? This opens up another can of worms, as she is not a trained medical or psychological professional.
Long story short, I am going to have to do more research and thinking about backstory on both characters if I want to be able to know them enough to now how they react under pressure and in this particular situation.
I did put in my 60 minutes reading and researching and mulling, and looking at terrible foot injuries this evening. *shudder* Don’t google it if you are squeamish. Really.
Hopefully I will be able to figure some things out before my 60-minute session tomorrow. I hope you had a fabulous and creative day.
–Karyn