Emma

Finishing up the scene with Ben was easy enough. I could write Kelly and Ben scenes all day and into the night. Those are easy. My biggest challenge always seems to be the Emma scenes, not because she's necessarily a hard character to write, but she does have to be done precisely. There are a lot of cheats and shortcuts I can't use, too. It's one thing for Alyssa to tell Kelly that Emma might be a bit skittish when first met, but while in the scene introducing her I have to actually show that instead of using narration to say "Emma is really shy". To get there and do it well takes a little thought and skill. Overall, I think it works. As with most of the better writing in the book, that aspect of her is made up out of the little details that I throw in. Those same little details, the things that Kelly notices about people, also help in establishing who Alyssa, Ben, Laurel, Gwen, and others are.

This concluding scene is pretty important, and I was definitely right about making Chapter 5 the 'season finale', because Emma just has to be there to get everything full circle, and to get the momentum of the story rolling. On the surface, it's a simple scene: Alyssa invites Kelly over, he meets Emma, the three of them have a small scene together, and then the three of them go off in their own directions to close things out. On the surface. Underneath that is a whole host of things happening, and a lot of stuff is set up here that'll pay off further down the road -- some of it in Season Two, and some later than that.

Outside of that, since I've been able to come to terms with certain things in my personal life, it is a delight to write for Emma. She really shines a light on every scene she appears in.

It goes without saying, I guess, that makes the writing easier to do.