I now have Tiffany born in 1968, at University in 1986, the fateful brief encounter in 2000, and Chloe naturally being born in 2002, after the affair is over, making her 18 in 2021. This pleases me aesthetically and structurally, and I have a note I scribbled down for an admission she can make later: ‘the affair was with myself’.
I have the film Brief Encounter recorded, but don’t want to watch it again yet or be unduly influenced, but I know its there and having some recollection of the ending but not remembering clearly enough I google some dialogue.
Fred: Whatever your dream was, it wasn’t a very happy one, was it?
Laura: No.
Fred: Is there anything I can do to help?
Laura: Yes, Fred, you always have.
Fred: You’ve been a long way away.
Laura: Yes.
Fred: Thank you for coming back to me. (Laura weeps in Fred’s arms.)
That goes in my notes to mirror somewhere, in a less stilted and corny way, to have in mind for the inevitable reconciliation. One thing I frequently do, and have here, is write in blocks, which make it easier to re-order, to expand or separate, and give me some key scenes. On the original draft I’d separated into conversations, or parts of conversations, and I find I quite like the idea of using that to separate out my chapters. I’m not sure yet what the final length will be, whether this will be a long short story, novella or full novel, but this block structure can be used for chapters or sub-chapters in any case.
I hadn’t decided in the first draft whether Martin and Tiff would physically meet again, but I’m fairly sure now that isn’t the plot I want, so I need to block out, in very broad strokes, the unwritten parts of the story. The gradual disillusionment of Tiff and realisation of what she’s looking for, and for this I want her to go on holiday, which will be the catalyst for her deciding to end the virtual affair. I’m very aware there is a good chance this whole plot point might change, and I want to see where it takes me organically when I write. I can’t decide whether the communication would be helped or hindered by shifting to e-mail. It would still be relatively early for lots of e-mails and owning PCs and while it would be neat to have the virtual conversations prove themselves to be empty once they shift from the excitement and danger of the phone, as a McGuffin, I’m not sure if I want to go down that route. This is still my thinking last week as I go through the stages of planning. More soon.
Stay safe
Kit