Feeling your story

Angie and I spent the morning working out the last story beats of Wolfe's Blood, the fifth and final book in our Shepherd and Wolfe series.

These moments are after the big climax when we take stock of where all our characters are and how they are doing. Since this is our last time with them, we must give our readers a sense of their future.

So, we'd discuss a scene, and I'd read it down and then read it back to her. Unexpectedly, I'd myself becoming verklempt, my voice cracking and my eyes watering. I couldn't stop myself—and Angie couldn't stop laughing at this unexpected emotion.

Eventually, I got through it, but she and I agreed that my response was good.

If I, the cynical old writer who delights in making my characters suffer, is now feeling _all the feelings, then that bodes well that the scene works.

I always believe writers should be the first readers of their work, and if you don't feel what your reader feels, you still have more work to do.