Who’s Writing This Novel?

The answer to that question is “not me.” I have not been writing for the past month or two, and I am trying to work out why I stopped. I took time around April to work out my outline which was a change for me. I generally have a rough idea of a few scenes I need to happen, but the how the story gets there is blurry. This time, I made an outline. There’s room for surprise, but the plan is laid out. I then made scene boards across three acts. I’m rather proud of my scene boards. The boards are large enough to doodle on when an idea presents itself. I have character pictures and the outline tapes to the boards.

I wrote 7k words in April then another 1 or 2k between May and July. Then nothing. Just nothing. It’s not that I don’t want to write the story. I think about the path of the story, the characters, their needs and goals several times a day. Then why am I avoiding it like a 7th grade science project?

1. While I like the visual representation an outline gives, it is stifling me. I can’t breathe.
2. I am forcing my characters to go in directions they are not ready to go. Literally. I needed them to get on the road for a long trip, but he insists on walking her down to the family cemetery. I let them, but I cut it short. They are now on the road. The actions and conversations feels forced.
3. My writing area is not a welcoming space. I’ve tried writing elsewhere, but I want to be in the space I created for writing. There’s a door for privacy and a window for jumping. Just kidding. Maybe.

Well, I think that’s helped a bit. Now that I know these things, here’s what I’m going to do:

1. Let the outline go. Just let it go. The characters already know the story. I just need to let them tell me.
2. I’m going back to a time when I felt the characters were driving the story and move forward from there. I feel more connected to the writing, and I stay engaged. There’s an excitement in not knowing exactly what’s about to happen. There’s an elation is realizing you knew this had to happen all along.
3. I fixed this one just in the last few days. I turned my desk so it faces my boards and my day-job desk is behind me. I cleaned up the writing desk and added a lamp and a melty, smelly thing. I also added fairy lights around the boards. I can change them to any color I wish. Today, I am pale blue.

To add more chances of me finishing this draft by year’s end, I am participating in the 2021 National Novel Writing Month in November. Yes, the novel has already begun, but there’s at least 50k still to be written.

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” – Terry Pratchett