This chapter was where I start getting into the nitty gritty of the investigation. Jake intially goes about things himself. He doesn’t know what’s going on until speaking with his father. This involvement between Jake and Jack brings heartbreaking news, and more emotion is established in the relationship. This is where the rebuilding begins.
I tried to write from a familiar place of sadness and frustration. Since the main character was based on me, it became easier to understand what he feels during grief, what he would say, especially to his father.
I know what it’s like to lose people, including friends, not to mention under very tragic circumstances. Trying to write emotion into words and make it work can be a difficult process. I didn’t want it to feel cliche. I tried not to use things that sounded famliar in every tv show. But everything about death has been written. Not to mention, this was my first pass through writing something of this nature.
I tried to make the conversation and interaction between Jake and his father in the wake of the bad news as emotional as I could. Writing for different readers becomes a high wire that is useless to try to balance on. Everyone wants something different. Multiple beta readers felt that the sequence was very emotional. My wife felt this section lacked any emotion at all. You just never know what people are going to think.
Accepting that you can’t make everyone happy is truly the best thing that you can do.
Oh and write for you don't worry about your audience a piece of advice I need to take for myself. Your audience will find you that way
Grief has been written about before yes, but not your own grief and experiences which makes the individual writing unique that no one can duplicate. I read chapter 1 the other week. I need to catch up :)
Writing is subjective as well to the reader. I try to remind myself of that