Derry, Northern Ireland

Derry, Northern Ireland
A book I'm working on is set in this town.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Fork in the road

I'm now at a point where I need to bring back a character in a different manner from before, and I'm not sure how to do it. It's a very intense period, not long after Serpico's been shot and it seems like his partner set him up, so it would be just right...but it feels...forced. Part of me wants to do it but part of me says, "You don't need this on top of everything else." It's irritating, because the characters are being of no help, whatsoever.

Not that I blame them. I'm just not invested in this story...and I can't figure out why. I should identify with Vinnie, really. He's a guy who just wants to live his life and have his family and retire with a pension so he can enjoy his leisure who winds up caught in some serious conflict because of his loyalties. Brendan's rather like that, but he's trapped in a time when his world doesn't care about such simple things. Vendettas begun 300 years earlier are still being fought and people being killed over them. I don't have that in IF.

Doesn't help that I really do not like the title, but it's not my choice. "Trainee" carried a lot more heft as regards the story. Vinnie's being trained by everyone to be their version of what a good kid...and then a good guy...should be, and he even winds up a trainee in the NYPD, to start. But "Inherent Flaws"? Weak.

Still, I got more done on it. And I may use a trick to re-establish this character. We'll see how that flies. Meanwhile, VOT is filling in more and more and is getting close to the saturation point.

Oh, and one final thing -- I HATE daylight savings time.

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