A game show kind of moment

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This shot from mid-January taken at Trinidad Head reminds me of the game show as though a sign plugging a holiday in Tahiti...

Many years ago I came to the belated realization behind the true concept of a game show that I watched as a kid. That the 'prizes' given away were just solid tokens of advertising for those items. Yet not merely the prizes, but all the products that made up the vast array of 'games' that contestants played to win their booty. Without naming the show, not wishing to give it more than its due, it was an AHA moment. And now when something of a similar sledgehammer upside my head occurs, my husband and I call it a Game Show Kind of Moment.

Well, we use the actual name of the program, lol. Today I had one of those concerning the writing. I woke up WAY TOO EARLY, thinking about when to put tomatoes in the garden, where will I plant random baby zinnias, just silly stuff that at two a.m. wasn't conducive to finding sleep. Sometime after three I quietly got up, not wishing to disturb my other half. I made a cup of coffee and a strong pot of tea, then sipped those beverages leisurely as I perused the WIP. I'd also been thinking about it, wondering how much I could truly accomplish in the next few weeks. Probably not as much as I'd like or hope, which also contributed to my not returning to slumber. But I made some good progress, attending to simple rearranging of a minor amount of sentences. At some point, I can't even say how many cups of tea I'd finished, that Game Show Moment hit. A character in the series needs a little TLC, which I've known but haven't dealt with, or not in the detail she deserves. Ronan is a former child soldier who has been brought out of a haunting darkness, yet her ongoing recovery requires more than the lip service I've paid it. What I realized was this was the second time in two novels I've created a very troubled character, then not wished to delve fully into the maelstrom of my own making.

Hmmm.... In one respect, I'm grateful for the awareness. I knew Ronan required more love, just like Seth did in The Hawk. And giving her that attention won't be difficult; more of a pain in the backside is slowing down the pace of the last ten or so chapters, which I have yet to ponder. Ronan requires a little help in the second part of the series, perhaps a chapter from her POV about the sudden clearing from the fog of not insanity, but certainly deep mental strain. It's not fair for others to speak on her behalf about how well she's healing, only Ronan can poke at that ongoing restoration, which does take a decent amount of time. I didn't stint on that so much, but in how the improvement of her mental health was viewed by those who love her.

Part of why I didn't initially treat her fairly was that she muscled her way into the story quite by surprise. Then there she was, and dude! She came on so strongly, then changed so abruptly in a manner that I think is plausible, yet.... Even in a fantasy novel reality has to be acknowledged in whatever form is applicable; due process still trumps furthering the plot. I can't introduce then immediately dismiss someone with so much pain, not fair to Ronan or the reader.

Game shows belong on TV, but I wish to avoid that kind of fodder in a serious story. When I cottoned on to what was happening during that show's broadcast, I felt I'd been brainwashed. What did the price of a box of macaroni and cheese really make to the ultimate prize of two weeks in Honolulu? But every sponsor earns their fifteen seconds of plug-time and Ronan deserves more than I've given her. However this isn't merely about this series, or the one that precedes it, more in how I treat future characters that display the agony, and eventual restoration, that Ronan and Seth endure, then enjoy. I learned a lot about my writing (and myself) on half a night's sleep. What could I manage on a good seven or eight hours?

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