indietalk: I'm sorry, but making disparaging remarks like "sounds like a Lifetime movie" just isn't helpful. Moreover, Lifetime movies are legitimate works that people actually make money doing. So what if this is a Lifetime movie?? If you don't watch them, then that's your prerogative, but other people do.
Thanks, Buddy.
Here's the synopsis, to see if it fits or assists with any suggestions:
LILA, a twenty-something administrative assistant, has just moved in with her boyfriend, BRIAN, when her mother, DIANE, asks her to clean out everything Lila has accumulated in the garage over the course of her life. When Lila balks, her mother gives her an ultimatum: Diane is going to get rid of whatever is still in there after a month. Lila brings a bunch of boxes to her new apartment to start going through it.
When she comes across a book that her junior high school sweetheart, HUGH, had given her, they meet up so she can give it back to him. She’s embarrassed to tell him about her undistinguished life as an office assistant compared to his PhD studies in physics, but they have just as much chemistry together as when they were kids and decide to continue hanging out as friends to see if a relationship between them would work.
Lila comes across a hospital wristband from when she drilled a hole in her own hand, depressed over having failed to fulfill her potential as an artist. Although in her childhood she seemed to be extraordinarily talented, she eventually became discouraged and gave up a year earlier.
When all the stuff that Lila has accumulated in her living room becomes overwhelming, Brian demands that she get rid of it all and makes insensitive remarks about the emotional difficulty she’s had with digging up old memories. Later, however, he feels guilty about what he said and starts cleaning out his own old stuff to experience what she’s going through.
Hugh makes belittling comments about how little Lila has done with her life, so she breaks up with him—for essentially the same reason she broke up with him in junior high.
When she comes back to her apartment, Brian breaks up with her, since going through his own old stuff has made him realize that she never really loved him. Lila can’t argue with him, having realized the same thing herself.
Lila comes across a coffee table book that a private art teacher, NIGEL, gave her when she was 14—on the day he started molesting her. This wound having reopened, Lila confronts her mother, telling her what happened for the first time. Her mother asks her for forgiveness, but Lila refuses and storms off.
The following days are extremely difficult, with bizarre memories of Nigel haunting Lila’s every moment, to the point where she even considers suicide. She decides against it, however, and instead tracks Nigel down and effectively rescues the young girl currently under his tutelage.
Lila forgives her mother and takes up painting again.
) show it. If the worst thing that has happened to your character is the molestation, have her getting past that be her main goal. There is a lot of built in drama with molestation also.