The Shattered Prayer

Surfing the net. Its something most of us do everyday, but do we want to read about other people doing it. We certainly don’t want to watch other people do it. No, we all want control over that mouse.

There was nothing more boring than watching my ex-husband surf the net, no matter what kind of porn he was looking at.

“Hey, cherub”, he’d say, “c’mere and look at this video”.

Snooze.

Last night/this morning I wrote chapter 6 of my novel, and during a fair portion of it, one of my characters was surfing the net. Yikes! How boring is that? I’ve been debating with myself over whether to leave it in. Sure its realistic - its what most of us would do to retrieve the information she was seeking. But is it interesting?

I had to ask myself the following questions:

1. Is the website she was surfing more interesting than the average bear? Well, yes it was. I have to admit, its a helluva lot better than, say, the Shattered Prayer.

2. Did the surf-session advance the plot? Yep, sure did. Led the main character to take a trip to a mysterious porn video store. (Again with the porn… Yes, in my world theres a such thing as mysterious porn video stores.

3. Did the surf-session reveal anything new about the story? Yeah, it did that too.

4. Most importantly, did the surf-session reveal anything new about the characters, or advance the characters in any way? Yes, I have to admit it did.

5. Are there other ways for her to get the information revealed by the website? Probably, but lets face it, the internet is the most likely way for her to get this info.

I also think that having a main character engage in such a mundane activity grounds a fantastical plot in reality, adds a little believability.  I’m still mulling it over, but I think I’ll probably leave it in.

Recently:

• Ladies of the Legion II
• Ladies of the Legion
• Super-Sister
• Writing Weekend
• A Coda on CoDA
• Did Plurk Kill the Shattered Prayer?
• Happy Birthday Bea!
• Lois Lane — Unpleasantly Sexy
• Hysterical Blindness
• Welcome back Mojo and Richard.