Writing Problem #157—Mulling Characters. #amwriting

I've been reading through my work in progress, The Fall Line as I prepare to write the final, 'third act' of the story.  I adore these characters and love hanging out with them. Mia is strong, self-sufficent, accomplished and competitive. And Creech, whose been with me since I wrote Dancing in the White Room, a great guy with a heart as big as a state, who also happens to be sexy as all get out.

I usually let my characters 'talk' to me, and tell me what's going on in their hearts and in their heads (and yes, I know how odd this sounds, though it's not so uncommon for fiction writers).  As I was doing my read through, though, I realized I might have given these a little too much mulling space. They seem to be spending an awful lot of time hemming and hawing and going back and forth. The problem is this slows down the forward momentum of the story. It gets tedious and tedious is very, very bad. Last thing I want is put readers to sleep.

Once I'm finished with the story, I'll have to go through with my pruning shears (figurative, of course) and cut out all of the dead words. Meantime, I'll write the end with the mulling problem in mind. Oh, I'll still let them tell the story, but if they go too far in thinking things over, I'm going to have to remind them to 'get on with it already'.