A week of race change (#SFWApro)

After I finished my second draft of Southern Discomforts, I realized I had a story set in a small Southern town and absolutely no black characters beyond cameo level.
My next draft I added two major characters: the wife of the murdered politician Richard Cannon, and an attorney caught up in the investigation. I liked them; the plot didn’t. Consistently it wound away from them and off in other directions. Susan just didn’t have anything to contribute without straining coincidence a lot (Maria can only run into some people so many times). Mark fit the story better but midway through he kept fading out.
And then a little voice in my head said that the logical solution was to take two of my other characters, Rhonda Mitchell and her brother-in-law Alan, and make them black. They both have large, key roles in the plot, and it likes them.
This week, I realized the voice was right. Of course, it’ll change a bunch of stuff. Alan’s reporting ambitions are different (he’s the first black reporter on the town paper and definitely does not want to be just the reporter who covers black issues); people are going to react to Rhonda differently (among other things,she and her husband are still living in the same traditionally white section of town they did in the previous draft). But it’s the right call. I can tell.
I didn’t get much done on the book this week besides reworking the start (don’t worry, I’m not going to fall into the trap of doing the beginning over and over). I did get a couple of stories out, worked on some queries, and sent off a few. I watched my usual quota of stuff for the time-travel book, though that got frustrating today (first Netflix DVD of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was only half-playable). And I submitted my next And column, though it’s not out yet.
I did a bunch of articles for Demand though not as many as I’d intended.
I worked slightly less than usual because I took Monday afternoon off so that I could catch up on paperwork and other odds and ends left undone since Dragoncon. Overall, though, a good week, but I’m frustrated I’ve done so little fiction. However time-travel and the stuff that pays steadily have to come first.
Have a good weekend! Time-travel and other reviews out tomorrow or Sunday, depending how my schedule develops.