Writer's Block--how to write the holiday meal....

I love movies with great family holiday meal scenes. Some of my faves: ones from National Lampoon's Christmas and While you were Sleeping. It's long been a goal of mine to write a really great one of my own. A novel lends itself to the space and character development prior necessary to carry such a scene, and my novel-in-progress has had this empty chapter just sitting for months. It's titled, but I've yet to write the scene. In fact, it might have been 2 or even 3 years ago when I knew there would be one, and yet I haven't been able to touch it.

I'm stuck, asking myself, what am I trying to accomplish in it? i don't want to just launch into it rambling, hoping to find direction once I'm there. (though i do that often enough in this novel...I tell myself, my later drafts have got to be good, cuz my first drafts of chapters are sometimes, as writer Anne Lamotte says, really s----y.

Years ago, I assembled my characters for the scene--it's Ash and Ginny's house, and in attendance was her best friend Daniella (who is driving Ash nuts, though he cannot let on at great personal peril), Ginny's mom and stepdad (the latter of which normally drives Ash nuts, but is welcome in comparison to Daniella), the academic hermit next door neighbor, Ginny's  teen mother cousin who is ridiculously naive , and Ash's best weight lifting buddy. But I had little idea what I wanted to accomplish.

Well, in two years, I've written more of the novel, and i know a few things. 1) The scene must serve to really ramp up the stress on Ginny. A lot of that is accomplished because Ash invited most of those guests, last minute, without even asking Ginny, who has to prepare the dinner. I need the day to put Ash and Ginny at pique contention with each other. To further this goal, I think I'm going to have Ash invite the neighbors from the other side of the house--the family of seven. That'll really cook Ginny's goose!  2) I think the scene also will be about Ginny trying to come to terms with her family--her mom, the black sheep of the family, echoed in the teen mother cousin, and those who aren't there. 3) Ginny will also be processing her relationship with Thomas, and it too must be very uncomfortable, and she'll be mad at Ash for inviting him (though I have to write that prior chapter, and figure out why. 4) Some of the arguments are debates revealing the clash of world views at the table. Thomas in particular doesn't come off well, even though he's right, and Ginny tries to navigate the minefields.

So I guess I knowquite a bit. But I feel something is missing. I can't yet write it. I feel like nothing there is important enough to carry the scene. I didn't plan it to be a dramatic reveal--or should it be? Should there be some high drama, or just the rumblings of all these little conflicts? Hmmm...that's a question I've never entertained before. Does someone snap? And if so, who? Ash could--he's under stress, even though he's normally so mellow. That'd be a surprise. Ginny could, easily, but I'm not really sure what that would accomplish in my story.

Or maybe I have to just start writing, and write my way into something more profound. I've often stumbled onto a narrative gem by bumbling around in a scene, bumping into something that was gold. Maybe I should just get started, and see what else I can find as I go....

Stuff I publish online between bouts of writing fiction:

Zucchini for Breakfast, Dinner and Dessert: Five New Ways to Use Up Summer Squash and Zucchini

Chef Jamie Oliver Versus School Lunches: Where Do The Dietary Guidelines Come From Anyway?

His Eye on The Sparrow? Review of The Novel, The Prayers of Agnes Sparrow

How to Start a Novel You Will Never Finish: Part One

Your Body is Electric-- How Electromagnetic Fields From Cell Phones, Wireless Devices Interact with Your Body’s Nervous System