The last section, Brendan's return to Derry, is far too quick and easy. He talks about a lot but this point in time needs to be highly emotional for him. He's cutting ties with his American family. His mother is dying from cancer. His brother is about to join the hunger strikers. Another brother is part of the IRA's youth auxiliary. And everywhere he goes in Derry he's seeing ghosts from his past.
I have one section near the end where Brendan is being hauled before an IRA council after having been interrogated for several days, thinking he's provided information to the British...that he's become a grass, as they call informers. But the interrogation was so intense, he honestly has no idea if he informed on them or not...and it looks like he will be shot and buried. I want this to be terrifying, even as Brendan is all but hoping for it to happen.
On top of this, I've got a multitude of post-it notes regarding all three sections, as well as red pen comments in the bulk of the text, to remind me of things that need to be or have been referred to and should be clarified. So I'm nowhere near the end of work on this. I'd like to think it builds to a solid, powerful ending...but I won't know until it's done. All the way. But...this is also just a second draft of the third section. It will grow deeper.
There's a whole bit I could add where Brendan finds out more about his father's life and it colors his interpretation of the man...but I'm still thinking about that. Suffice to say, things shift and change in ways that I hope are not predictable, aside from the push of history, at the time. I'd hate for this story to just seem derivative and superficial.
No comments:
Post a Comment