The chapter where Brendan reconnects with Joanna, again, is...okay. Right now. But it doesn't have the impact I want. It's not as big a shock, I don't think. Almost like the reader should expect it...or something like it...which I hate in a story. Predictability. Life isn't predictable, so the story shouldn't be.
So I've gone over it and made the changes to liven up the party and added in his tape recorder, and it's still pretty bland. Banal. Derry Girls did it better with a retreat where Catholics and Protestants mingled, and Claire wound up in her usual hysterics. Season Two.
But that's led me to a quandary. He feels an extreme sense of betrayal, that no one told him Joanna had lived. He understands his brothers and sister, in Derry, wouldn't have known about him and her, but his mother did. And probably his aunt and sister in Toronto. And his friends, Colm and Danny. And no one let him know.
Well...now I need a section where he reacts to this. Originally, I had him going to a demonstration over Bobby Sands and his hunger strike, but that ain't workin'. He needs to deal with this and I'm blank as to how to handle it--AKA: brick wall meet head.
He can't just let it go. Can't ignore it. May need a full chapter unto itself, to work it out. And at the moment, I'm lost. I don't want it to come across as whiny or self-indulgent in his emotional distress. And he still needs to help Maeve with his mother and make like he's doing research for his thesis...so I need to work out a way to balance this.
Hmph, Brendan's as taken aback as I am over this shift. That's not good.
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