Are Design Shows Real?

No.

I got suckered into one of those motel renovation shows, and let me tell you, from my exhaustive work writing a book about restoring on old motel (okay, not actually doing the renovating), it's hard! I'm exhausted just writing about doing it!

I will cop to the fact that the show gave me the idea for my current novel, but the show itself is so unrealistic it's mind-boggling. I'm not going to say which show exactly, but while I was immersed in it, I was curious enough to scroll for more info regarding some of the host's properties. I found a lot of reviews that were less than complimentary ~ shoddy workmanship, things like heating and air conditioning not working, leftover construction junk lying about, months after the fact. 

Renovation isn't just cosmetic, not if the goal is a thriving business. And the host of the show is awfully obsessed with insignificant things like designing a wooden sign to hang above the office door.

I grew up in a roadside motel ~ well, in an apartment attached to the motel. I well know what it takes to keep customers, and it's not a pretty bed canopy. I have a line at the beginning of my manuscript in which a waitress comments to my MC after being told that the MC is looking for a motel to purchase, "I watch those shows, too. They're not very realistic. Why do they only ever renovate two rooms?" (My MC professes ignorance of the show ~ my intention isn't to dump on any real-life person.) 

I suppose all this is why my MC never seems to get anywhere with her reno. She's been at it for a couple of months and hasn't even scratched the surface. Sure, the "decorating" part would be much more fun to write, but damn, she needs to have a new roof installed and windows replaced, and there are some ugly pillars that may or may not collapse the building if she tries to have them removed. Not to mention the mold.

The other consideration is, how interesting would a novel be if I detailed every step in her process? It's not a how-to guide. 

It is "sweet" that my MC thinks she can make the whole thing work out in the end. Oops, not sweet; delusional. Of course, this being fiction, it'll have to work out, even though the only tool she owns is a hammer, plus she's tackling this project with no help from anyone. 

Of course, this is the least of her (my) worries. I still haven't figured out how to weave in another inciting incident, but now that I've gone down the road of introducing the previously unseen character, that character's going to have to do something. Something bad. I wish I knew what that thing was.

I've had a long layoff between writing sessions, and I haven't used that time to come up with a satisfactory solution. Apparently I'm assuming that once I start writing again, something will come to me. I hope that's true.

Consider this post my "lack of progress" update.