Quicky!
I have to go to work, but I just wanted to remark on a dawning theory first. I went to lunch today at the irl version of the restaurant my MC works at inYear of the Navel, and I had like 5 ideas suddenly come up and smack me in the face. Some were "where to go next" type things. Some were possibly scenes to work on separately to get characterization down more solidly. Some were shiny new things I might add to beef up some structural stuff.
So, here's my theory, based on this experience and on conversations in which writerly friends working on YA pieces frequently say they feel like they're back in high school working on their pieces: maybe sometimes we literally NEED to go back to go forward with a story. Even if a work in progress is set in a complete fantasy world, maybe we need to take ourselves back to high school, or to first jobs, or to other areas of significance in order to capture and create what our MCs would/should/could be feeling, or where they might be (literally or figuratively).
(And sorry if that seems jumbled. I'm trying to knock this post out very quickly before getting ready for my paying work.)
So, here's my theory, based on this experience and on conversations in which writerly friends working on YA pieces frequently say they feel like they're back in high school working on their pieces: maybe sometimes we literally NEED to go back to go forward with a story. Even if a work in progress is set in a complete fantasy world, maybe we need to take ourselves back to high school, or to first jobs, or to other areas of significance in order to capture and create what our MCs would/should/could be feeling, or where they might be (literally or figuratively).
(And sorry if that seems jumbled. I'm trying to knock this post out very quickly before getting ready for my paying work.)