Temptations

I have a scene that I am starting to want to include in the Cider book in a big way.  I'm not sure it belongs.  I'm not sure it doesn't take me in a different direction.  I'm not even sure if it fits in before the story ends.  So I play it over and over in my mind, much like a kaleidoscope, turning it over and over to see how the pieces fit together.  Do I want to go there?  What does it give me in terms of character and drama?

Logic tells me that this scene muddies the waters.  It introduces an element that yes, exists as if not subtext at least as a suggestion within the story, but brings it forward forcing me/the characters to deal with it.  Do we want to deal with it?  It is too much of a complication?

I also had an idea of far less temptation but that solves more than it muddies.

The issue is the actual time-frame of the story which is weeks not months.  There is something to be said for tightness.  It's good to keep a rein on the story so it doesn't get away from you.  I once was talking to a writer who was in the middle of a book and he was telling me about a subplot (his B story--that is something he should understand) had taken over and that 150 pages later he was still wrestling with it.  "But you know how that is," he said to me with a smile.  I answered him truthfully "No, it's never happened to me."

Sweet Cider is not going to make that untrue.

The Stream That Floods