Writing woes, epiphanies, and getting unexcited about the WIP
A few days ago, I got very excited. At 20K into my WIP with still no plot in sight, I'd been obsessing. What should happen? Should I scrap the whole draft? What's the point?
But while I was cleaning out a litter box (yeah, I know), I had an epiphany: half of chapter four and all of chapters five and six should be at the end of the first act rather than the middle. Once I realized that, the shape of the story started to form in my mind. I could see the progression of the various threads, and it became obvious that I have a plot--it's just kind of buried.
So I was excited, because--yay, plot.
Then I realized how much work I'd have to do to untangle everything.
I quickly got unexcited.
Now I'm falling back to my trusted revision method: outlining the story. This lets me see at a glance the scene, setting, stakes and conflict. I can also see exactly where the incisions needs to be made in the middle of chapter four and at the end of chapter six. And it's becoming more and more obvious, as I look over the part of the outline I've finished so far, that I'm going to need to write a whole bunch of new scenes to smooth this over.
It's a lot of work, and I'm going to be completely honest here--I'm really, really lazy when it comes to rewriting. For me, it's like walking on a treadmill in a silent room while staring at a blank wall.
I don't want to do that; I want to ride my bike along the river with my iPod blaring.
But, alas, I'll never get to that point again if I don't stick my butt (not to mention the rest of me) on the treadmill first. Damn it.
So.
Outline:
5 / 10 chapters.
WIP*:
*Because of the length of the first act, which will probably wind up around 30K, I've adjusted my word count from 60-80K.
But while I was cleaning out a litter box (yeah, I know), I had an epiphany: half of chapter four and all of chapters five and six should be at the end of the first act rather than the middle. Once I realized that, the shape of the story started to form in my mind. I could see the progression of the various threads, and it became obvious that I have a plot--it's just kind of buried.
So I was excited, because--yay, plot.
Then I realized how much work I'd have to do to untangle everything.
I quickly got unexcited.
Now I'm falling back to my trusted revision method: outlining the story. This lets me see at a glance the scene, setting, stakes and conflict. I can also see exactly where the incisions needs to be made in the middle of chapter four and at the end of chapter six. And it's becoming more and more obvious, as I look over the part of the outline I've finished so far, that I'm going to need to write a whole bunch of new scenes to smooth this over.
It's a lot of work, and I'm going to be completely honest here--I'm really, really lazy when it comes to rewriting. For me, it's like walking on a treadmill in a silent room while staring at a blank wall.
I don't want to do that; I want to ride my bike along the river with my iPod blaring.
But, alas, I'll never get to that point again if I don't stick my butt (not to mention the rest of me) on the treadmill first. Damn it.
So.
Outline:
5 / 10 chapters.
WIP*:
*Because of the length of the first act, which will probably wind up around 30K, I've adjusted my word count from 60-80K.