The Scene I Almost Didn’t Write, But Knew I Had To
Some moments demand more than words, and they demand to be written anyway.
Not every scene comes easily. Some arrive half-formed, needing only polish. Others fight you at every line. And then there are the ones you hesitate over, the ones you ask yourself, Can I really write this?
There’s a moment in *The Alpha Flame: Discovery* that nearly didn’t make it to the page. It’s brutal. Not gratuitously, I hope, but viscerally, emotionally, inescapably raw. And I almost left it out.
The Scene in Question
I won’t spoil the plot. But if you’ve read it, or when you do, you’ll know the moment I mean. Beth’s flat. After the meal. The past catches up with them, violently. What follows is terrifying, graphic, and, ultimately, defiant. Because the scene doesn’t end in victimhood. It ends in resistance.
I struggled with it. Not just the writing, but the decision. How much is too much? Would readers be turned off? Would it feel exploitative? I kept coming back to one question: Can I show the strength of these girls without showing what they’re up against?
Why I Wrote It Anyway
Because sanitising the violence would have softened the power of what follows. Because survival isn’t always tidy. And because for Maggie and Beth, this moment isn’t just trauma, it’s a pivot. A taking back of control. A scream turned into action.
And because, as hard as it was to write, it was never about the horror. It was about them.
Not Every Scene Is Dark
Of course, not every difficult scene is violent. Some are quiet. Tender. Exposing in a different way. Maggie and Rob’s beach scene, so intimate, so open, was another that made me hesitate. Too sentimental? Too vulnerable? But I left it in, because love deserves to be as real as fear.
Then there’s the hilltop chapter, Maggie and Beth coming to terms with Cindy’s death. No blood. No screaming. Just raw grief and silence and survival. That one hurt to write too. But in a different way.
The Scenes That Cost Us
As writers, we all have them, the chapters that leave a mark. The ones you have to sit with after. This was one of mine. But I’m glad it’s there. Because stories like this deserve their full weight. And because girls like Maggie and Beth deserve to be seen, not softened.
Read more about the story here, and when you reach that scene, know that it nearly didn’t exist. But I’m proud it does.