So, I'm working on my first novel.
After much planning, but not completely finishing my original outline, I originally started my then-unnamed project for NaNoWriMo 2007…a week late. And I still managed to "win", getting in my 50,000 words in 24 days flat.
At the end of November '07, I was drained. As in – I put my WIP on the shelf and didn't look at it again until that spring. I puttered around with it, in between working on other projects, and then went back to shoring up the outline, adding in new plot twists, an extra subplot or two, and prepared myself to get back to it for NaNoWriMo 2008.
Again, I "won", writing just over the required 50,000 words again. Woo! Go me!
And now, here I am again. After a few months of letting the story settle, I'm back to the book again.
It now has a (tentative) title – Thicker Than Water. But I haven't really added to the outline at all (which, to tell you the truth, clocks in at just over 100 pages – the book itself already groaning under the weight of its nearly 100,000 words).
And therein lies the dilemma. After plotting and planning the majority of my book for countless hours…I don't have an ending yet! I have a general road map of how I want to tie things up, but as I sat down today to get back into the swing of things, I realized that for once, I don't have detailed sketch of where I should be going or what I should be writing.
My only plan right now is to not let this hinder me. Granted, this is my first book, and there is no right or wrong way to write a novel. But I don't want to get into the mindset that I need that point-by-point breakdown of each chapter in my outline to move forward.
We're entering uncharted territory here, folks. Buckle up!
Today's Soundtrack:
[Oxycanta] Winter Blooms – Track: Waters by Sgnl_fltr
[audio:08-Sgnl_fltrWaters.mp3]
Mary’s eerie tales inspire in readers the urge to double-check the deepest, darkest closets, to peer anxiously under the creakiest of beds, and to always sleep with the lights on.
100 pages of outline? Wow. That is dedication. My outlines can typically be fit on one double-sided piece of paper. Maybe that’s why my stories tend to get away from me a bit as I write them
)
Well, the outline is sort of meant to double as the first draft of the book. It was my first time using this method and I think it will need some tweaking before I make it my standard MO. But it definitely helped!