Novel writing course progress...inter alia

Sometimes I wonder if "progress" is the correct word. I'll go with "yes" for the moment.

At least my Instructor didn't turn back my second pair of novel ideas with "let's try that again." So, chalk that up as real progress.

Now I have to supply a scene of my protagonist interacting with some other characters - I have quite a choice here as this is the first of my NaNo novels - there's a lot of mud with which to make bricks.

One scene, and a couple of character sketches - one of the protagonist, one of the antagonist (plus a request from the Instructor to deepen/sharpen the antagonist), and for me to consider folding two of the supporting characters into one. That last only if the two are not really separate. I think they are, so no, for the moment they remain two.

What the Instructor's questions in her letter, and her markup of my story idea, have done is make me consider each part of the story and the characters. Things still hang together, but I can see where I can make this, quite fictional, universe more real to a reader.

That can't be a bad thing.

***

Apropos of nothing at all...while we were driving back from the South Bay yesterday, on a dreary gray day I might add, we recalled a snippet of conversation I had with my brother a decade and a half ago. 

'Twas at our wedding and we had provided wine for our assembled guests. While buying same, we decided to lean more towards white than red - "people seem to go more for white than red," said we, with great confidence in our knowledge of people's proclivities.

Naturally - but of course - the red was a great hit and the well began to run dry.

I was talking with my brother and bemoaned the fact that we seemed to be running short of wine. My brother - who is a carpenter - deadpanned, "There's never a good carpenter around when you need one."

***

And, finally...Happy Birthday yesterday to N and G. Two relatives, one a young woman finding her place in the world and the other, a woman who has seen San Francisco grow and change - from the twenties!