I dreamed about my hero last night. I have no idea what I dreamed exactly–as usual that information pretty well dissipated like the morning mist once I was actually conscious. But it’s a good sign. It means he’s in my head and closer to coming to life on paper.
Last night I did a lot more reading on that stack of articles about arson. I’m gradually gaining a better understanding of how the investigation is going to go, which will definitely help flesh out the front end of the book better. I have just finished rereading the 30 odd pages I have as a beginning and for the most part, I think I’m going to just start fresh from scratch, incorporating in this research as I go.
I know a lot of authors are able to just write out the story, red lining anything that they need to research to come back to later. Well, for the most part, I’ve realized I just don’t work well that way. I really prefer working in chronological order. It does sometimes hamper my productivity to have to stop and go research a question, but unless I am pretty far into a story, I really really prefer to just write straight through chronologically, answering the questions I have before going off on a tangent.
I’ve also been giving some more thought to my hero’s flaws. I haven’t had any trouble coming up with Stella’s but Holt has been harder. He’s not tortured. Doesn’t have any major emotional baggage. But I think I’m finally starting to see him clearer as opposed to just brave blonde Adonis with a dimple (though, gotta love the dimple. I’m such a sucker for dimples. God help me if our kids inherit my husband’s.). So I guess that’s my daily progress report for yesterday. More research and thought. The good news being that I’m feeling better about the story. It’s starting to gel.