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Still having trouble with this scene. Not only is it not going to be the big fight scene I originally planned, but it may not be a fight scene at all. Merry has figured out a way to simply leave in safety. I finally called Jon over the intercom and whined to him about it. He said a smart thing. “Whose whining that this scene isn’t the big fight scene?”
I thought about it for a moment, then said, “Me.”
“Whose story is it?” he asked.
“Merry’s,” I said.
“How does she feel about this scene not being a big fight?”
“Relieved.”
I went back to my computer and made some notes, because Jon is right. I’m impatient to get some of the major villains finished off, but for Merry it’s real danger. Danger to her, to the men she loves. So, she’s figured out a way to leave fairie safely, and frustrate her enemies. They’ll try, but they can’t touch her right now. Smart her; puzzled me. But, as my sweetie says, “Whose story is it?”
Merry just wants a safe trip out of fairie and to get back to the relative safety of Los Angeles. That’s her goal. The fact that my goal is to do this one big scene, is a writer’s goal, a plot-driven goal, not a character-driven goal. I find that often when I try to concentrate on plot over character that the writing slows, and the characters argue. Okay, Anita argues. Merry is more passive aggressive, she just fixes it so that my plan doesn’t always work. She doesn’t argue, she just doesn’t cooperate.
But Jon said one thing that was comforting, and not at all frustrating, “Maybe you’ll get to do the big fight scene later.” He’s right, again. (There are so many reasons that we work well as a couple.) Maybe this means that all those sticky notes on the wall will actually be what the final battle with this villain will actually be about. That would be cool.
But for today, I’m going with Merry’s plan. It’s a good plan. I’ve said it before, my imagination is very smart, and will often figure things out before I do. The problem comes when my conscious brain tries to fight my subconscious. The subconscious almost always trumps, because it seems to see the big picture, in a very Jungian way. Of course without the front of the head making me stick to deadlines and work schedules, the magic and mystery in my subconscious would just be dreams, wishes. There is magic both in the dream, and the dreamer; in the wish, and the work.