I love plotting. I love brainstorming, asking what if, finding links between the GMC of the H/H. But, the more I do it, the more frustrated I become by my tendency to be vague about some parts of the story. Vague as in, I have an undefined idea(like 'Pull wacky hijinx') which I never really put into many words because I feel that part of the story is golden and doesn't need plumbed in order to continue on with the plot. I guess this is the pantser part of my process.
Except, sometimes these undefined ideas I'm sure will work, just don't work.
With current WIP, there's been something bugging me about the setup and I couldn't figure out what it was. Last night, before bed, I focused on that bit of the storyline and tried to put into words what bothered me about it. I had no answers, just a feeling that something was off. After writing down what bugged me, I went to sleep. During the night, my brain apparently wrestled that bear to the ground, and when I woke up this morning the solution was my first thought after "I'm awake." I promptly wrote it down.
Later, after some errands and Real Life stuff, I went to put my new solution into my plot, and ... my whole plot FELL APART. It's all farked up now. On one hand, I'm glad that I've spent time dragging my feet instead of writing much more of it. To feel like I wasn't just being lazy or unmotivated, I'm telling myself that my subconscious knew I'd have to rework the entire darned plot to make it work, and that it hates discovery drafts--that's why it kept saying things like... YOU SHOULD READ THIS BEFORE WE WRITE MORE...
As much as I love plotting, I hate when my plots fall apart and I have to start over. New Voices entry rewind: starting tonight on plotjitsu V. 2.0.
Aw Amalie, sorry you've had to change your plot. But, on the bright side, I bet your story will be better for it. :o)
ReplyDeleteI was working on a wip a while back and got to nearly 15k and realised I'd started in the completely wrong place, had to start from scratch but the end result was so worth it.
Sorry. That totally stinks, but maybe your changes will wield the roses you're looking for. Good luck!
ReplyDelete@Susan: Thanks for the luck! I collect this stuff like UPC codes I can trade in for a book sale when I get to 100 million luck points(wouldn't that rock if it worked that way?).
ReplyDelete@Aimee: I had to do it with my Medical too. Three times. First attempt went to 40Kish words and then tossed. Second went to about 13K and then tossed. Third worked. Finished (fairly quickly too) and sent in. So I guess getting there at around 7K words is much better than 40K or even 13K. I'm hoping that there won't need to be a 3rd version of the plot for this one--hence I've backed away from fun part(the writing!) right now to work on the turning points, GMC and general DETAILS. Oy. Let's hope it's better for it. I think Evia's the one who's changin the most. Sad. I love Old Evia.