The New Year is a good time to think about organization. For writers, organization is essential and it's easy to get sidetracked, waylaid, distracted, and otherwise off task, when a plot is plodding instead of prancing along.
That's where I am right now. STUCK. Oh sure, I've been thinking about the wip a lot:
Before I fall asleep
While I'm doing laundry
Making dinner
Driving anywhere
As I'm ripping out inches from my pullover as I find another goof as I knit.
Essentially, my plot is dragging and it's dragging me along with it.
Solution
Going to shorten the timeline. I printed out a calendar and blocked off ten days. That's going to be the extent of the timeline for the plot. Before, it was this amorphous (?) thing with no borders. No sides. No trim edges. Now, at least, I've got some basic outline for the action.
Some authors have all their action take place in one day - Dan Brown's Lost Symbol occurs over the course of one night, for example. Right now, though, I'm feeling better about the shortened timeline.
Next job is to think like the Mafia.
What's going to happen to Frankie? That's today's job.
We are on the same wavelength today! I, too, am stuck (blogged about it today) and what's even more frustrating is that I have about 10k more to go and I'm done. I know what happens next, but fear or resistance or SOMETHING is keeping me from finishing the darn novel.
ReplyDeleteI'm dealing with that same problem.
ReplyDeleteThis is where a good writer friend comes in handy. I scheduled a phone conversation with my writing bud Donna for tomorrow morning. Just getting ready for that has helped me organize my questions. I think I may actually be seeing some answers.
ReplyDeleteI blogged today about a trick I used once when I was really stuck. I think it just happens from time to time. For me, other activities help.
ReplyDeleteMy last book happened over 12 days. My WIP is happening over 2-3 months. I think that may be where I'm flailing. Too much time to fill allows for too much filler and not a tight enough plot.
ReplyDelete