Well, I will give my friend, Jenna, a lot of credit for calling this one. I was sharing with her the fact that I had NO idea...absolutely NO idea what this book was going to be about. I mean, I knew general/big picture stuff...but had no clue what kind of story arc would take place to get the job done.
She told me -- as did others -- JUST WRITE. It will come to you eventually.
I think it's a truth universal that every panster freaks out a bit when beginning a new book. I've completed two novels, parts of several others, and each and every time I begin, I feel like there's NO WAY in hell I'm going to be able to do it again. It probably seems pretty crazy to outliners/planners when they hear about someone like me who says... eh, I think I'll write a book. (What's it about?) Oh..no clue. I know there are werewolves... and well, yeah.. that's about it. (What happens?) Eh.. I think there will be a scene where this happens... but I'm not really sure what leads into it... or what will happen after it. No clue if it's in the middle, beginning, or end... Yeah, but I THINK it's going to play a part.
Yeah, people don't usually understand that way of thinking.
At any rate, I dug in last night with the one scene I KNEW for sure I wanted in the book. It really has no major impact on the plot -- just a cool scene idea I've had knocking around in my brain for a long time. Of course it plays into the book...but I'm not sure when it will take place, how it will impact the story as a whole... yeah, I just wrote it.
It's definitely not great... I'm sure it will change drastically at the "meld" point. (When I take all of my random scenes and try to figure out how they go together to form a story). But it was a start and it led to a couple of little brain firings. All in all, I got 1702 words... not a stellar night, certainly not on par with the ladies over at ATWOP, but a nice start.
NO CLUE what I would write next, and I finished slightly freaked out about the thought of having to produce another 1700 words today.
Well, the good news is that Jenna was right. By golly, as I was walking into work today, I had a mini-epiphany. Nothing major, mind...but definitely a beginning to a story arc... a reason for my MC to move forward in search of the answer to a particular question. It gives her purpose... and well, something for me to write! LOL. PHEW. I'm off to do that now... wish me luck.
2 comments:
Congrats on finding the beginning of the arc Jen! As a fellow chunkster, I know exactly how you feel [g]
"When I take all of my random scenes and try to figure out how they go together to form a story" - just did this for my MS last week, and boy do I have a lot of missing scenes!!
(word verification: perehork. Sounds kinda like a booger...)
HAHA, Deniz... I expect that's exactly what's going to happen to me. I tend to write the "big moments" and then I'm left trying to piece things together with those little filler scenes. They give me more problems than the big ones do, wouldn't you know. lol. Oh well.
Glad things are going so well for you!
Jen
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