ChunkyC
Re: Your character
So, Uncle Jim, let's see if I'm getting this....
Just saying 'he longed for a smoke', coupled (lets say) with the fact said character never actually smokes during the story, should be enough to let the reader fill in the rest for themselves. Everyone who reads the story who has quit should superimpose their own struggle onto the character. Saying it took 5 years might distance the character, ever so slightly, from those readers who took 2 or 10 years to quit. The fewer of these kinds of tiny 'distancings' you have, the better for your story.
??
So, Uncle Jim, let's see if I'm getting this....
Just saying 'he longed for a smoke', coupled (lets say) with the fact said character never actually smokes during the story, should be enough to let the reader fill in the rest for themselves. Everyone who reads the story who has quit should superimpose their own struggle onto the character. Saying it took 5 years might distance the character, ever so slightly, from those readers who took 2 or 10 years to quit. The fewer of these kinds of tiny 'distancings' you have, the better for your story.
??