A new story is in the works. I think it is a good one. The setting is great. The backstory is awesome. The characters should be compelling. It's all there except for one thing, and it's something with which I always struggle.
The tale itself is simple. A group of paranormal investigators go on a job and split into two teams of three. They go through their normal investigation experiences. That is the easy part; I can see it all clearly in my head.
Describing those external activities is straightforward. The whole thing plays like a movie in my head. I sometimes wonder if I should be writing screenplays instead of these short stories and novels. There needs to be a way to go from my brain direct to DVD (or streaming these days).
The hard part, for me at least, is clearly describing the interpersonal relationships of the characters. Each of those teams is made up of a romantic couple and a camera operator. Each couple has similar experiences, but reacts very differently. Further, each goes in with their relationship in a different state. Conveying this with correct emotional value and not just piling on exposition can be difficult.
With multiple characters, it is permissible to change the viewpoint, basically which character is "telling" the story at any given time. If the story changes viewpoint too often, it will confuse the reader. If the viewpoint doesn't change enough, it gives the feeling that only those characters are important and the reader must rely on those characters to make correct assumptions about the thoughts and feelings of the others. Characters tend to be very unreliable in this regard.
In the novel The Ruins by Scott Smith, there is an ensemble of characters and the viewpoint changes between them. It seems to work fairly well. Honestly, I did not like the characters and hoped they would die and be replaced by more likable characters, but that was probably how they were intended to be written. Even there, though, there was a smaller group within the ensemble who got more viewpoint time. The lesser characters only got point of view if they happened to be (effectively) alone. This kept the viewpoint from becoming confusing and did establish some characters as being more active in the story.
At the moment, I'm contemplating making the two camera operators the primary viewpoint characters. It fits with their function of trying to keep the others in frame and in focus. In doing so, they also tend to lose their own situational awareness, which may work out. Also, they are not involved in the couple dynamic of the other team members, so they can be more objective. I imagine the other characters just get used to the camera operators and don't even think about them.
I think I may take this approach. It will require rewriting the parts I've already got scribbled. I kind of wonder how long this story is going to run. The last two stories ran about twenty-three thousand (It Gets Away) and forty-six thousand words (Timmy's Zombie Abatement Service). That's the range for a novella. None of that includes notes and related writing. This may end up taking a while. I hope I get it right.