There is a constant struggle between the part of me that thinks I need to plan out my writing projects before I sit down to write them and the part of me that just wants to sit down and wing it. Being the lazy kind of guy that I am, the part that advocates winging it usually wins. That is, in general, a good thing. Except when it comes to big things like details upon which the plot turns. Those, it would be nice to have figured out before I find myself having written fifty thousand words and not gotten to anything resembling an end.
I am pretty good at thinking of premises. I have a page full of them that I came up with a couple of weeks ago when I was trying to figure out what my NaNoWriMo novel was going to be about. I am also decent at dialog and character development. What I truly struggle with is laying out the major plot developments.
I have been attempting to work through the plot for my project while writing my journal entries the last couple of days. I have discovered all sorts of interesting details about the characters that will be in my novel but I still haven’t figured out where I’m going with it. I have every confidence that I will figure it out. It just bothers me that I’m setting out on a journey and I have no idea where I’m heading.
The last time I did that, as you may remember if you read my serialized novella in this blog recently, I punted at the end. I thought it through and decided that was the best ending for the story but I still felt like I had left the story unresolved. In this case, it was intentional but it is not a trait that I intend for all of my stories to share.
So I will continue to wrestle with that part of the preparation for the next week or so and when the time comes to start, ready or not, I’ll dive in. What can I say? I’ve always done the “seat-of-my-pants” approach to writing. Why change now?
Sweet dreams, don’t forget to tell the ones you love that you love them, and most important of all, be kind.