Coffee House Book Notes

When I'm not scribbling about a coffee house, I've been taking notes about my coffee house book--things I want to remember to add or delete or change to strengthen the story.  Here are a few of the notes I've taken recently:

• The scenes between the Grand Opening and the Grand Re-Opening need to find a balance between significant and slice-of-life.
• The religiosity of the piece needs to be carefully threaded throughout the story--those that know about it see and appreciate it, and those that don't just don't see it--the religiosity just adds a little depth to the story, ties the events together, but doesn't overwhelm the story arc.
• Maybe hint at one of the baristas writing for pleasure to hint that maybe s/he wrote the piece?
• Don't make the landlord a totally unloveable character, just heavy-handed in his handling of his tenants--he wants to be (overly) involved.
• Ben should be more of a background owner; he lets Moira do the managerial stuff and he does the books and ordering what she says he needs to order based on her inventory reports.  Sometimes when things get super busy he helps, but mostly he chats and does paperwork.
• Don't make Moira too idealistic--she should have flaws, too!  But not the kind of flaws that make her more loveable.  All the characters should be equally loveable and hatable--the reader can choose the main character.
• There needs to be some acknowledgement that a lot of the customers are "farm folk" and the only coffee they drink is the "coffee" they get from the gas stations--they're not used to gourmet coffee, or a place that doesn't serve meals.