Writing Tin Men and Scarecrows – Part 3

I’ve had a break from writing.

I’m recovering from surgery and, as I still haven’t put the first draft of my current work in progress to bed yet, I keep thinking of new plot twists to make it better.

At the moment it is around 3200 words less than my ideal length, and while I’ve had some general thoughts on what new scenes should go in, recent life events changed my mind. And no, I’m not going into detail, but these events made me question my social conditioning.

So, I’m going out on a limb.

I’m about to explore the dramas of a gay couple and their regular friend, who comes with benefits. There is already one closeted gay character in this manuscript, so I’ve decided one of the men in the established relationship should also be partly closeted.

This helps me because in the current draft the couple don’t have a strong enough reason to have already broken up. And when they try to get back together, they are still grappling with very minor issues.

With a third party testing their boundaries, there is much more to write about. Jealousy. Personal reflection. Social conditioning. Love.

One older character will have a lot to say about this arrangement.

But she is already on her own journey, opening doors to possibilities she never imagined this late in life, including a revived sex life which I will expand on during this revisit to the initial draft.

This is also a challenge to myself as a writer. I’ve avoided sex scenes in the past until I realised they don’t need to be written to titillate. They are more interesting when a character has a revelation. And both sense and emotion can be explored.

The title of this novel has taken on new meaning.

Initially it was just about an older woman named Dorothy whose life changes after she meets three gay guys. One, a himbo. One, a bitch. One, a tad aimless.

Now it will further delve into the things which scare us, and how speaking from the heart is better than over thinking a problem.