LOSING THREADS

I am hovering around 115 pages and now that I'm well into the machinations of plot, the story is dashing along at a swift clip, but I've noticed something interesting. As I try to tie the plot points together and as the story picks up momentum, I've started to lose certain threads that I started with that I intended to use to give the novel some voice and tone.

It's been awhile, for example, since I've mentioned The Beatles. I've also neglected to bring up Alison's cello playing for quite some time. I've written one scene with Drew's therapist, but nothing since. I haven't touched on Ben's ability with technology, namely computers, lately, and I'm afraid that I'll forget to say something important. Or that I'll lose the threads that make the book interesting while I'm trying to make the book have "events."

But what I'm deathly afraid of is of killing the pace with unnecessary breaks in the plot to go on diversions about computers, therapists, or classic rock and roll bands. The key must be to lay in just the right detail or a quick reference here and there to make the reader feel you haven't forgotten the thread, but that it needn't kill the action to be important or to be mentioned. I guess that's the finesse and art of writing fiction.

It's also, I suspect, what second drafts are for.