working title:

Step one: the day ain’t over yet

As I wrote, the last thing I wanted to was lose momentum. If a scene seemed to stall, or if it required research or forced me to delve into minutiae that seemed too tedious at the time, I decided to go on, to leave it and come back once I finished.

My mission on the first read-through was to examine those abandoned scenes and to look for places that needed a little filling in. In William Burrough’s Naked Lunch, there is a chapter near the end of the book that explains how he removed all travel from the novel. There is no mention of people getting on planes or into taxis or cars. For much of the novel, people seem to disappear and appear at random, which contributes to the book’s overall hallucinatory effect. However, once the reader happens upon this chapter, much of the preceding events fall into place, and the remainder of the book makes sense, for the most part.

I don’t want my readers to wait until the end to figure out these in-between moments, so I’ll have to go back through and write them.  Some will be more involved, more work-intensive than others.  Some will be simple. Several instances are mere mentions in the text, probably no more than a couple sentences.  Others will take longer, but I hope they won’t be too hard. I now know the characters and how they behave moment to moment. Also, the style of the piece is second-nature.  I can slip into the prose style pretty easily, close my eyes and let my fingers wander the keyboard. Some I won’t use at all.

So here’s the list transcribed directly from my notes:

1. Perhaps, to make up for passing out & missing Kyle’s morning, Boone can cook a meal in the restaurant/their kitchen is too small. roasted chicken, potatoes, Brussels sprouts w/ mayo and bacon - After Carlos is fired. Before?
2. You might need to write a scene in which Joan debates Boone being at the party—finally decides it could be his chance to rescue her or himself (Joan & Eric meeting here and there)
3. Make sure Boone’s infatuation with Kyle’s girlfriend (or lack thereof) gets handled in some way
4. A scene in which Boone finds and studies Kyle’s photographs?
5. A scene or line early on about client meeting @ home. So Boone is unsurprised when he sees the two cars p133
6. A scene in which Boone stays out late. Provides the pivotal discovery to explain the fatigue. But what? Scene w/ Mahon most likely
7. They need to discuss her infidelity. Though he’ll expect the fight, it won’t happen. She’ll finally ask him what he’s going to do and he’ll say he doesn’t know.
8. Folks at work like Greek chorus (maybe). The secretary brings Boone coffee.
9. An earlier scene in which Boone does something w/ Smith. Perhaps talks about the restaurant (so we know Smith is dumb)
10. Finish the scene of Joan @ the coffee house. -Drive home -she wears the same sweatshirt - he takes her on the kitchen table and destroys a day’s worth of work
11. Think about separating Joan throwing up & the breakup scene?
12. Extend the scene after Kyle’s fight. Boone will have to think about calling Joan. Will be hung over, too.
13. Finish aftermath of Kyle’s fight. Maybe Boone will say, “Let me take him out of here.”
14. You’ll need to have a scene where Kyle meets w/ Hannah after the fight. Perhaps a gift exchange or something.  She’ll be scared at first.
15. Flesh out the scene between Mahon and Boone, during the walk home Boone thinks briefly of how things will be, looks at his good friend.
16. Finish Christmas
17. Maybe Kyle takes the Blue Boy photo after Christmas—after his dad leaves. In the art show, Him, Michael, Hannah’s Door.
18. Boone wakes, tries to call Mahon. Leaves message on the machine
19. Boone visits Rosenblatt (might not need it. might be very short)
20. Boone picks up Kyle from police station? (you already had him break and fight Breedlove)
21. Finish Kyle’s first day of school - the people different
22. Finish scene where Boone first calls Joan in the night?
23. (there’s a big jump in events and the following three are right next to one another. rather than write out each scene, I might be able to handle this weird transition with sequencing instead)
    1. Kyle scene (at school?)
    2. Joan scene
    3. Maybe Mahon scene?
    4. Perhaps a lesser Boone scene
24. Boone wakes on the street. He’ll have to get home, have to talk w/ Kyle, have to make some choices. ie. call Joan or Mahon. Calls Mahon. Finally, when does this happen? (time of year)
25. Kyle @new school. Tough to make friends. Finds himself wandering streets w/ his camera. Becomes bolder w/ them & gets in people’s faces
26. You’ll have to have Mahon and Boone eat together earlier (maybe?). Mahon knowing how to cook seems surprising. Perhaps that scene whee they’re in Mahon’s kitchen can be expanded
27. Boone looks in on Kyle, vows to meet Mahon @ the market (son nearly grown, but still his son)
28. Rewrite Carlos II and younger, Carlos as older
29. Write our scene in which Boone realizes this is it. Quits department & decides to make a go of it (march?) “He hasn’t unpacked the notes…”

Each note is written on a page from a pocket-sized notebook and corresponds to a number scrawled on the hard-copy manuscript. This will enable me to keep things straight as I go back into Scrivener and write, write write.