Progress, Progress, Progress!
The battle is half over!
Well, for this book, at least. I am a bit behind in my stretch goals (5,000 per day was what I hoped for) but, yesterday I managed to cross 27,142 words. I also reached that word count late last night, hence why there was no blog post yesterday.
I feel winded! As a Plantser, I am finally at the point where my outline is less detailed and my bullet points are more generic. It’s not uncommon to see notes like, “Shaun goes up against this guy,” when I open my documents, and when I come across one of these notes, it is more work for my brain to fill in the gaps. Now I know how George RR Martin must feel!
I have always had very detailed beginnings, but more ambiguous endings. That’s not to say that I don’t know how the story will end – I know what the climax battle will be. It’s the getting to that battle that requires some work.
My plan of attack moving forward is to start where I left off and work my way chronologically through the remainder of the book. This way I can discovery write as I go along, and all the gaps will be filled. As it is, I have already jumped way ahead towards the climax, but I still only have a vague idea of who some of those new characters are. It’s the flesh that needs to be generated while I stumble through the dark that is my second half.
So, onward on this journey to a completed novel! I am still aiming for finishing this book and beginning the next one before the end of the month. We will see if I am successful!
Franklin Kendrick 