Blindsided

This afternoon I was trying to figure out which scene to write and I decided it would be the big catfight between Connie and Janna.
Constance has been the one character I have had the hardest time getting a handle on. I made her a Communist so that she could hide out at Julian’s and as a result I can’t relate to her. Secondly, since everyone else was sympathetic to Janna, I made Connie antagonistic to her and since I’m writing the story from Janna’s viewpoint, it makes Connie more distant to me.
I did finish writing the catfight and Connie did throw some low blows at Janna but she was not nearly as vitriolic as I thought she would be. Everything I wanted to accomplish with the scene is there but something about it bothered me.
I went to bed around 9:30 but I couldn’t sleep. As I lay there I flashed on Constance. I suddenly knew how she met Julian and what happened to make her hate Germans so very, very much, and why she was so protective of Sef. I just knew everything about her in that one instance. And I realized that’s why the catfight scene hadn’t settled with me. Because when I wrote it, I didn’t really know Connie yet.
So I got out of bed and started writing about her and she totally turned into a Momma Bear. She and Janna are like sisters now. I never saw that coming. But it’s a good character arc, she’ll show development in the story and that’s good.
I was originally going to have Constance turn in Janna to be one of The Shorn but that’s out the window now. If I do proceed in having Janna as a Shorn then Connie will have to defend her instead of being her accuser.
Now I’m going to try and catch some Zs, that is, if it’s okay with Connie.