From the Forge…
I’m a “pantser”. I have my characters, their personalities, their flaws, and their motivations. I have summarized the next 4 chapters with a few sentences each, so at least I remember what events should occur when I arrive. I have the broad strokes of Act III and the ending. That’s the extent of my planning and plotting.
This past week, I finished a long chapter, wrapped it up how I wanted, then got 54 words into the next chapter before realizing I had no idea where to go.
How’d I get here? What does this character do next? Why is the supporting cast in this scene? How do I advance time and move them around?
Absolutely no idea.
Things aren’t great for my protagonist, suffering a physical beatdown in Chapter 17, then a moral beatdown in Chapter 18. I don’t wanna give him a win in Chapter 19, but definitely a break to explore a relationship where the reader will learn some backstory. Then I can get back to advancing the plot in Chapter 20.
This is my life. I make things so much harder than they need to be due to procrastination and questing for dopamine. Projects left undone. Up against deadlines. Always forgetting. Partially realized hobbies. It’s taken so much not to walk away from this novel at the halfway point, blaming a poor premise or even promising to revisit in the future, as justification for why it’s okay. I have short stories to polish and submit for publication. I have this whole “Bounty Hunter” premise I’d like to explore for another novel. What’s even better is that as I’ve been writing this post, a thought entered my head: Why don’t you just plot the damn novel? From this point on…just plan it. Every beat. You don’t have to be married to those beats, but at least you won’t end a chapter with nowhere else to go.
Unfortunately, while I’ve been writing this post, I’ve also worked out which supporting character is going to drag my protagonist from Chapter 18 to where they should be in Chapter 19.
So…I’m gonna go write that and try to forget about having an existential crisis around plotting and planning this novel, my day, my life, etc.
Words Written Since Last Week…
Stamped & Sent
No new submissions since last week, BUT I have dusted off some serialized fiction from this Substack and researched litmags that publish crime fiction. Unfortunately, I submitted Off the Rails to Ploughshares back in March ( I totally forgot) and received a humble letter in my email last week.
Ploughshares: Emerging Writers Contest - (Nope.)
The Atlantic - (in-progress)
Sewanee Review: Short Fiction Contest - (in-progress)
Writer’s Digest: Annual Writing Competition - (in-progress)
