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Okay, I'm having issues with my Nano Novel. (Who's surprised? Beuler? Thought not. ;-)
See, I'm not actually sure *how* someone goes about becoming an alcoholic.
I understand why my Main Character is drinking like a mad thing (PTSD + Massive Amounts of Guilt and Shame = No Sleep for Kitty unless she dopes herself up good and proper). However I'm not sure how to get her to the point where she can't stop doing it. Even though she knows she hurting herself (well, that's easy --> she's more than convinced that she deserves to be hurt, so that's no problem), even though she knows she's hurting someone she loves (although she ends up hurting the same person in a different way - at least this is how she sees it - when she's not drinking... I think said beloved would be happier to deal with the "I can't be with you right now" stuff than the "I'm drunk, but I can give you what you want now" stuff, but that's just me).
Anyway. So, I'm not sure how to do that. I'm also not sure how to get her to hit bottom. I'm also not sure how to get her through the Anger and Denial stages of grieving - while drinking too much, I might add - while still remaining a sympathetic character.
Help? Suggestions? Ideas? Somebody? :-)
Oo! Must get the dinner out of the oven. :-)
...
[After Dinner...]
Also: I'm currently trying to write a sex scene (big shock) - or a least a groping in an alley-way scene - that is there toup my word count show how Kit is obsessing over Nita and missing her badly enough to pretend someone else is Nita even though they only look vaguely similar.
However I'm not sure if it really fits the character.
See... Kit has, at this point (a year or, for all I know, less, after Nita left her) reached the point of "I Don't Care Anymore".
As in she had massive Intimacy Problems when she was with (well, "with") Nita, in the first place, because of the whole "cheating on Daniel w/ Nita a few weeks before he was unexpectedly shot and killed before Kit's eyes" thing.
Which was, in fact, part of the reason for the alcoholism and, in the end, part of the reason why Nita decided she couldn't take this anymore and had to leave.
And Kit knew, when Nita left, why she was leaving.
(Nita took the ship, by the way - at Kit's tearful insistence).
So Kit's living on [Insert Planet Here] - drinking herself half blind in the name of riding out the nightmares that start cropping up (like clockwork) if she stays in any one place for more than three months or so - long past her get-out-of-here date in the hopes that Nita will come back.
But there comes a time when she's starting to think that Nita's not going to.
And it's on the cusp of this point that Kit lets herself get seduced (not very artfully) by someone who's got short, blond hair and facial features that are vaguely similar to Nita's.
Which brings me to the woman in question. I'm trying to figure out why said woman (who never gets a name, awkwardly) would seduce Kit in the first place.
See... Kit's pretty drunk at this point in the scene. And, being drunk, and being depressed, she's not in the most sociable of moods.
So I'm not sure why this gal stays interested.
The lady is either (1) an upper-middle-class woman on a business trip with a few hours to kill before her shuttle leaves for her home-planet, who's looking for a bit of fun before she goes, in order to fuel her fantasies on the week-long journey home. Or (2) she's actually a pick-pocket who spotted Kit (drunk and lonely) and went "I could totally steal this gal's wallet if I convinced her she was going to get laid" (although I'm not sure she'll succeed at that, if I go with that option).
See, Option One is nice because it means Kit's suspicions about the woman's possible ulterior motives are wrong, and that yes, in fact, someone out there thinks she's worthy of affection even if Kit, herself, does not.
But Option Two is nice (and probably better) in part because it will feed on Kit's feelings of worthlessness and, incidentally, get rid of most of her money, thus pushing her further down the line to utter impoverishment and, thus, closer to The Bottom - if only because she'll have to find somewhere to sleep now, not being able to afford the rent this month, or something.
Thoughts? :-)
- TTFN,
- Amazon. :-)
See, I'm not actually sure *how* someone goes about becoming an alcoholic.
I understand why my Main Character is drinking like a mad thing (PTSD + Massive Amounts of Guilt and Shame = No Sleep for Kitty unless she dopes herself up good and proper). However I'm not sure how to get her to the point where she can't stop doing it. Even though she knows she hurting herself (well, that's easy --> she's more than convinced that she deserves to be hurt, so that's no problem), even though she knows she's hurting someone she loves (although she ends up hurting the same person in a different way - at least this is how she sees it - when she's not drinking... I think said beloved would be happier to deal with the "I can't be with you right now" stuff than the "I'm drunk, but I can give you what you want now" stuff, but that's just me).
Anyway. So, I'm not sure how to do that. I'm also not sure how to get her to hit bottom. I'm also not sure how to get her through the Anger and Denial stages of grieving - while drinking too much, I might add - while still remaining a sympathetic character.
Help? Suggestions? Ideas? Somebody? :-)
Oo! Must get the dinner out of the oven. :-)
...
[After Dinner...]
Also: I'm currently trying to write a sex scene (big shock) - or a least a groping in an alley-way scene - that is there to
However I'm not sure if it really fits the character.
See... Kit has, at this point (a year or, for all I know, less, after Nita left her) reached the point of "I Don't Care Anymore".
As in she had massive Intimacy Problems when she was with (well, "with") Nita, in the first place, because of the whole "cheating on Daniel w/ Nita a few weeks before he was unexpectedly shot and killed before Kit's eyes" thing.
Which was, in fact, part of the reason for the alcoholism and, in the end, part of the reason why Nita decided she couldn't take this anymore and had to leave.
And Kit knew, when Nita left, why she was leaving.
(Nita took the ship, by the way - at Kit's tearful insistence).
So Kit's living on [Insert Planet Here] - drinking herself half blind in the name of riding out the nightmares that start cropping up (like clockwork) if she stays in any one place for more than three months or so - long past her get-out-of-here date in the hopes that Nita will come back.
But there comes a time when she's starting to think that Nita's not going to.
And it's on the cusp of this point that Kit lets herself get seduced (not very artfully) by someone who's got short, blond hair and facial features that are vaguely similar to Nita's.
Which brings me to the woman in question. I'm trying to figure out why said woman (who never gets a name, awkwardly) would seduce Kit in the first place.
See... Kit's pretty drunk at this point in the scene. And, being drunk, and being depressed, she's not in the most sociable of moods.
So I'm not sure why this gal stays interested.
The lady is either (1) an upper-middle-class woman on a business trip with a few hours to kill before her shuttle leaves for her home-planet, who's looking for a bit of fun before she goes, in order to fuel her fantasies on the week-long journey home. Or (2) she's actually a pick-pocket who spotted Kit (drunk and lonely) and went "I could totally steal this gal's wallet if I convinced her she was going to get laid" (although I'm not sure she'll succeed at that, if I go with that option).
See, Option One is nice because it means Kit's suspicions about the woman's possible ulterior motives are wrong, and that yes, in fact, someone out there thinks she's worthy of affection even if Kit, herself, does not.
But Option Two is nice (and probably better) in part because it will feed on Kit's feelings of worthlessness and, incidentally, get rid of most of her money, thus pushing her further down the line to utter impoverishment and, thus, closer to The Bottom - if only because she'll have to find somewhere to sleep now, not being able to afford the rent this month, or something.
Thoughts? :-)
- TTFN,
- Amazon. :-)
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