Truth or Bathroom Joke

I've been staring at the screen again, lost in pointless thought instead of writing. I'm really getting into a habit of not writing. I suppose it's because I'm still thinking so much about what I want to do with the stories.

On the current story, I feel that I missing the chance to make the protag much more interesting and show some type of person. I'm not sure how to go about doing it. I should be able to make the story much richer with a little planning. But I'm not sure how to do it.

I can write those sentences over and over and it doesn't change the meaning of them. If I can't figure out how to make the changes I want then I have to make some changes and see if they work. Otherwise, I'll be stuck in this endless morass forever.

What does this mean? It means I figure out what his strong points are and what his weak points are and then have him demonstrate them. I have to go back into the story and add sections to show them. I need to take a few minutes and work out a little back story for him and then add those to the story. It doesn't sound so hard.

Since I'm warming up here I might as well start here to figure Gene out.

Gene's mom left when he was in high school. He's very self-centered. He hasn't spoken to his dad in years. They fought a lot. His dad remarried and didn't tell him. They're not close. Gene moved to Hollywood from high school and struggled to find work. He's a character actor and part player who works regularly enough to make a living if he keeps his expenses under control.

He has short term girlfriends but nothing serious. He's basically honest not above doing dirt to people. He hasn't been shown a lot of kindness so he doesn't show it to others. He likes to act and pretend to be a person with definite traits because he doesn't know if he has any himself for real.

He's not comfortable around others but he loves parts in which he is. He's serious about acting. He is good looking in an average way. The only way he deals with life is according to advice from coaches and others.

Why should the reader like him? He's kind of clever and has seen a lot of interesting stuff in L.A. He knows some other character actors; list some actors in early 80's who become more famous later.

Let's go from there.

More later,