To finish a chapter, or not to. Thought of the day

To tell the truth about my writing, it is a bit schizophrenic. Scattered? Uneven? Something along those lines but this is not the typical 'self-loathing' writer comments where I question and insult the words I have put down to e-paper via my computer. Rather this is my confession that I sometimes prefer to write an entire chapter in one sitting and sometimes prefer to skip between chapters and sometimes prefer short bursts of 200-500 words.

During certain scenes, especially dialogue heavy scenes or action scenes, where very specific continuity is required, sometimes it feels a bit 'wanky' to stop and start again later; like the scene has to be completed or the train of thought will be lost and the impact of that scene will be forever negatively impacted; like no matter how many times I come back to it, I can never get that same feeling as when the scene began.

There are others, however, when stopping and starting is valuable. As an example, I have been working on the current chapter called The Days of Doldrums for several days. the reason it has taken a longer time than other chapters is that it is more abstract in nature... I am attempting to describe a couple who has started dating, are not yet in love, but are headed int hat direction. In so doing, i am bringing back the girls history without simply recanting chronologically or through her own words in discussion with friends, family, or the new interest and that requires a different touch. Today, i had a nice little burst:

The man she had met and referred to as ‘DC’ because she hated the name Cuddyback, it was just too long and cumbersome for casual conversation and her father, the philosophy professor and part time diagnostician of the hearts of man had once told her that the only men who were referred to by their last name were soldiers or professional athletes, either way, that usage connotes asshole to its core so she should never colloquially refer to a man in such a fashion. She did not like David or Dave because those were too familiar for her tastes and reminded her of some ninety year old man who was not past his prime because he never had a prime. So she called him ‘DC’ not letting it be lost that she recognized the irony of knowing there was an invisible big red ‘S’ (for Superman of course) on her metaphorical baggage claim around her heart and that Superman was a member of the ‘DC Comics’ universe which is why her reference to him as such always created an amusing if unheard chuckle within her mind. She never really confessed entirely the amusement she gave herself, but Cuddyback minded little as the term flowed so smoothly off her soft lips curled around a slight overbite that it sounded more natural to him than his own given name had ever sounded.

It is only about a 250 word burst, but it really starts to capture the feelings and the methodology of their growing adoration. Without being too cliched and without being too dialogue heavy, I feel like this gets at the heart of her approach to this relationship than anything I could do with the old-fashioned 'dating dialogue' that no matter how hard I try will still come across as pretty blase.

Additionally, I have already had one dating dialogue and wanted to approach this from a different perspective. I really like the direction that this book is taking both as a book and in making me a better  writer.