{"id":2341,"date":"2010-07-23T04:21:09","date_gmt":"2010-07-23T08:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/?p=2341"},"modified":"2010-09-08T01:51:24","modified_gmt":"2010-09-08T05:51:24","slug":"braving-the-unexpected-rough-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/braving-the-unexpected-rough-spots\/","title":{"rendered":"Braving the unexpected rough spots"},"content":{"rendered":"

Right now, I’m going through this unexpected rough spot in my novel, where I know<\/em> what’s supposed to happen (or at least I have enough of an idea to wing it fairly well), but the writing just isn’t coming.\u00a0 This happens every time I hit the two thirds mark, and it really sucks.<\/p>\n

Currently, I’m using two methods to get through it: 1) keep a running chapter-by-scene outline of the next few scenes, and 2) use a loose adaptation of story theory models (such as the hero’s journey) to keep perspective on things.\u00a0 Right now, this is what my chapter-by-scene outline looks like:<\/p>\n

Chapter 14<\/strong>
\n14.1: Jalil<\/strong>
\nJalil meets LARS, who with Michelle shows him the ship. Jalil learns that Lars has a connection with the Farlen family and that the Stewarts are from his parents’ home.
\n14.2: Mira<\/strong>
\nMira returns home an outcast. Sheila rails at her for failing to seduce Jalil, while Sathi pulls her into his quarters to tell her that he’s arranged for her speedy marriage.
\n14.3: Jalil<\/strong>
\nThe Bridgette<\/em> launches from GN-2 using a gravity whip maneuver. The ship heads out for the L2 point, using a second gravity whip around GN-2b. Jalil realizes this is goodbye.<\/p>\n

Chapter 15<\/strong>
\n15.1: Mira<\/strong>
\nWhile Mira prepares herself to get ready to meet her cousin Ibrahim, Tiera approaches her in private to apologize for calling her a whore. Tiera advises her to stand up for herself.
\n15.2: Mira<\/strong>
\nIBRAHIM’s convoy arrives. As Sathi and Ibrahim’s father conduct negotiations, Mira meets him and is surprised to find that she’s attracted to him.
\n15.3: Mira<\/strong>
\nMira, Surayya, Amina, and Tiera discuss Ibrahim in the women’s quarters. Tiera advises Mira not to pursue him, but Surayya and Amina convince her to go ahead with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chapter 16<\/strong>
\n16.1: Jalil<\/strong>
\nLars and Michelle tell Jalil about the Colony. They show him pictures, and he has flashbacks.
\n16.2: Jalil<\/strong>
\nWhile making maneuvers around GN-2a, the Bridgette<\/em> receives news of Hameji movements near Karduna. Jalil learns a bit of the Hameji.
\n16.3: Jalil<\/strong>
\nThe Bridgette <\/em>arrives at the L2 station and enters the starlane. Jalil’s first experience as an adult making the jump.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chapter 17<\/strong>
\n17.1: Mira<\/strong>
\n???<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As you can see, I’ve broken down each chapter by scene, with the viewpoint character indicated as well as a short one or two line description of what happens. When a new character comes along, I mention them by name in ALL CAPS. I use the auto font color for story that I’ve already written, and the stuff that remains to be written in red. Also, I only outline a handful of scenes ahead of my current position.<\/p>\n

That’s the method that works for me.\u00a0 I have no idea if it will work for you, but feel free to give it a try or let me know what methods you’re using.<\/p>\n

I’m finding that even though I’m more of a “discovery writer,” certain methods of outlining give me much greater flexibility to discovery write than simply winging it all on the fly.\u00a0 In particular, I find that outlining my characters and keeping a running scene-by-scene map for the next couple days helps to keep me on track.<\/p>\n

I ran into this problem earlier in the week: without any kind of outline, and no previously written material to fall back on, I had no idea what to do.\u00a0 Instead of sitting at my keyboard doing nothing, though, I plotted out the next few scenes to give me some idea what to do.<\/p>\n

That helped me out for a while, but now…man, it’s still rough.\u00a0 I did 3,251 words yesterday, but today I only hit 1,555.\u00a0 It’s a lot, I know, but with all my free time, I should be hitting more.\u00a0 Much more.<\/p>\n

I suppose the only way out of this slump is to write–and write I certainly must.\u00a0 I seriously need a real job, and right now I’m looking into the field staff position at Wilderness Quest.\u00a0 If they hire me, I’ll need to finish this novel before I start work, since I’ll be out in the wilderness for three weeks at a time and the last thing I want is to pick up a half-finished project after it’s gone cold–especially when I’ve got to rewrite Mercenary Savior<\/em> for World Fantasy 2010<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So that’s what I’m looking at right now.\u00a0 Three weeks, inshallah, and Worlds Away from Home<\/em> 1.2<\/em> will be finished.\u00a0 Hopefully by then, I’ll have a real job too.<\/p>\n

To close, check out this awesome version of the Corridors of Time song (Zeal theme) from the Chrono Trigger<\/em> soundtrack.\u00a0 I’ve heard maybe twenty or thirty different arrangements of this excellent composition, and this one takes the cake.\u00a0 Beautiful.<\/p>\n

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Right now, I’m going through this unexpected rough spot in my novel, where I know what’s supposed to happen (or at least I have enough of an idea to wing it fairly well), but the writing just isn’t coming.\u00a0 This happens every time I hit the two thirds mark, and it really sucks. Currently, I’m… Continue reading Braving the unexpected rough spots<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[68,44],"tags":[192,42,259,8,73,155,387,423,312,397,201,134],"class_list":["post-2341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bsh","category-ds","tag-discovery-writing","tag-frustrations","tag-just-for-fun","tag-writing-in-general","tag-planning","tag-rough-drafts","tag-the-real-world","tag-wilderness","tag-work","tag-world-fantasy-2010","tag-writers-block","tag-writing-advice","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iXK-BL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2341"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3012,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341\/revisions\/3012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}