One good man

Warning: what's written below has nothing to do with cute dog pic. Cute dog lovers may not want to read on.

Writing again. trying to tackle a dilemma. Son Rob, who has read my book, raised some issues yesterday over the central character. It's a pivotal bit in the book over an affair (the character is a married man) where he's faced with a "will he, won't he, should he shouldn't he?" moment when he finds himself in bed with another woman. The "could he, couldn't he?" part is already answered. It's laid on a plate, as it were. She's young, she's beautiful, they're both pressed against each other naked in bed (he's coming round from exhaustion after rescuing a man at sea) in a locked cabin and he has to make a decision. Does he cheat on his wife or does he leap out of bed and say "no"?

In the narrative I've written he cheats on his wife and he's thrown out of his home. Rob suggested the reader would have much more sympathy with the character if he was the subject of an injustice. So that he says "no" and then he's still kicked out of his home because his wife is certain he's had an affair and doesn't believe him.

What I'm seeking to do in this scene is pull the reader in to the character's mind so they're asking themselves: "Well, what would I do?" I should point out that he's attracted to the woman and his marriage hasn't been going well. But his upbringing and his marriage vows are explicit. You simply don't commit adultery. Also it's 1933 so there was a different moral climate then.

The woman, an American, has been a prostitute in the past, forced on to the streets through circumstance, but he doesn't know that at this stage and neither does the reader although it explains her candid approach to sex. It's no big deal for her. It's a very big deal for him who's only ever slept with his wife. So right now I'm writing the "no" scene and finding it difficult. The "yes" scene wasn't a problem!

It's not as if my main character is a saint - he smokes and drinks, he's a bit of a lad, and he's a very attractive man. My instincts say that to err is human but if there's more narrative power in him showing a robustness of character I'm interested in that too. So in this revision he's jumped out of bed and he's putting his trousers on. What now?

Meanwhile Pippa is blissfully unaware of any of this. Wake me when it's time for a walk, she says.