More whining about Odil

I have to backtrack, literally and figuratively regarding Odil. Though I have no time to write during the day – yeah, I’m writing now, but this blogging is ‘no-brainer, off the top of my head’ stuff, but at this point in the book I’m still ‘crafting’ and ‘shaping’ which takes a little more brain power—and I’m too zonked out at the end of the day, I still should be doing more. Scenes should be vivid in my mind (even if I can’t find the energy to write them) and they’re not.

Anytime I get stuck this way, it’s because something is wrong. I’ve visualized a character not as him/herself but as an element of the story to fulfill *my* ideas of the plot. Or I’m pushing the story in a particular direction to fit plot, rather than letting up on the reins so things flow in the general direction I’d like, while still allowing for those so crucial twists.

So last night in bed, I backtracked, and really examined Odil’s history. Some of the things I thought I knew about him were way off, and I found out a bit more about the people who mean something to him. I also realized I need to go back to that scene where he shuts the door in Zoe’s face and write it from his point-of-view--just for myself, I’ll still keep the scene’s p.o.v. ‘as is’—because Odil is reading like a total enigma at that point. I think if I get behind the motivation for his action (aside from the fact that he can be an asshole, gg) it’ll give me the key to his personality.

I’ll understand this stubborn man, if it kills me. He was supposed to be a puzzle to the heroine, not to his creator. sheesh.