I've got blog ideas coming out the wazoo. I've had such fun investigating baseball, compiling grammar rules, and waxing rhetorical on all sorts of topics.Trouble is, this time my ROW 80 goal doesn't include my blogs. (I've written 3,171 words on just my blogs in the last two days!) When it comes to my suspense novel, though, I'm sunburned. Entering the fourth chapter, I find I'm bogging down a bit.
Much of the excitement lies ahead and part of the excitement has past. This section has some key clues,
but my writing crawl-speed turned into a camo-crawl and then a full stop. Uninspired, I seriously considered tossing the whole story.
I could do that, but what would I learn? Instead, I think I'd like to flex the muscles of all that I've been learning. I need to get my elements so firmly in my mind that when I get back to the drafting the tension can't help but be on every page because there is so much going on.
I started the initiative last night, brainstorming with my Precious Redhead until almost 1AM. The exercise was enlightening! I realized that my story line isn't messed up, and my two protagonists are strong with deep character arcs.
Then there's my antagonist. He's sort of ... um ... missing. It's one thing for readers to be in the dark about an antagonist in a suspense, but the writer should probably know all about him. And I knew nothing about him.
Aha! I found my problem. Without a strong antagonist chart, I have no conflict with the protags, no goals or expectations for the antag, no story. I guess I just thought he would develop as I wrote, but he didn't. I'm not a seat-of-the-pants writer, duh, so I don't know why I thought it would just happen for me.
But after a day of solid focus on my antag, I not only know who he (generic "he") is, but I know what he does, and why he does it. I know how he gets himself connected and in his spiral into conflict with my main character. Almost without effort, my story has muscle, and plenty of tension.
All that is to say, I haven't added anything to my ROW80 goals since Sunday, but have added a ton of work on my story. I think the words will start to flow much easier now!
Where are you in your current projects? (Writing or Otherwise?)
Sometimes we have to do exactly what you've done. Take a step back, look at what we have and figure out what's missing. Sounds like you're well on your way to adding to your ROW80 goals. Not all "writing" is actually writing. Stick with it and you'll get there.
ReplyDeleteI'm beginning to figure that out, Ryan. Thanks so much for the encouragement!
ReplyDeleteI agree! Much better to discover what the problem is now, than write a whole first draft and then go, "oh! Blegh!"
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts exactly. So I'm not getting my goals met this week, in the end, I will be further along with something I can actually use that if I just pushed for my stated goals and wound up with nothing but wordcounts instead of writing.
ReplyDeleteLove the fact that I can adjust to fit my needs!
That sounds like an excellent use of your time and it helps your story very well. Still counts in my book. ;)
ReplyDeleteBrainstorming with someone else can be very helpful. Even if they don't talk much, having someone to talk to can be easier than just talking aloud. I can't just talk to myself, too weird. But talking out an issue to my husband or one of my writing buddies works great.
Good luck with your writing!
Thanks Jaleh. Talking through it with my girl really helps and the story has turned into something much more twisted than the original! Always a good thing.
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