So you know how I got all into making my little index cards for events in my story and then putting them up in order on my plotting door?
Rubbish. Absolutely rubbish.
Yesterday I sat and stared at those little cards on my door for about two hours, realising with a sinking sensation that they just did not work. If I followed what I’d planned to do, the book was going to start getting predictable, repetitive. I’m just about exactly in the middle of my first draft, and it was in serious danger of getting saggy.
So I did what any sane person would do, and went for a latte and pain au raisin in a nice cafe. And then it hit me—I needed to RAISE THE STAKES.
And therefore, I needed to take an event I’d planned for near the end of the novel, and put it right smack dab in the middle of the novel. Where it would seriously shake things up.
Of course, all of this staring and debating and calorific pastry eating could have been avoided if I had only followed my own advice I’d put right on my first post about pacing a few weeks ago: If my instinct is to hold off on something, I should make it happen instead.
But sometimes only the fullness of time and coffee can help you realise that stuff.
You are so not an idiot. I am re-writing, working on some really great advice. My “novel” I thought, was about a girl who always been in love with her crush and then he comes back to town. . .but no! She never loved him at all, she is yet to open herself up for love and it is so much more “fun-challenging” to write about her like this, because now she has a flipping arc to grow with. Yes! X
Ahhh well it’s much, much easier to see these things in someone else’s novel than your own.
Hooray for your arc!
So, so true Julie. I actually had a reverse of this epiphany the other day. I took a big event I already had in the middle and moved it to the end. Why? Because I realized I had too much going on in the middle bringing it down to dangerously saggy proportions.
That’s funny, Calisa. It goes to show that:
a) too much happening can be as troublesome as too little happening, and
b) sometimes you just have to change your beautiful plans!
Julie, your post about making things happen when you think you want to wait is one of my favorite posts of yours EVER. Because you’re right. You think that if you do that you’ve blown your wad too soon, but the truth is, it usually means that you end up going deeper and doing something even MORE compelling as the story goes on.
You have the best posts, hon.
Not the sag! I’m so glad you’ve sorted it out. Although I have to wonder what Fecklet thinks of mummy staring at a door for two hours?
Thank you Donna dear! Can you please tell me though, that if it’s such a valuable lesson, I keep on forgetting it!?!
Lacey, fortunately Fecklet is at nursery when mummy does these crazy things.
Your posts are the best. I’m trying the note card approach for the first time, using your posts and Sarah Duncan’s as a guide!
I was about to complain about the lack of cafes that do decent pastries around here when the Hotel Chocolat catalogue came through the letter box…it’s a sign. But what of?
Jeev, you have the two best excuses in the world for eating lots of chocolate! Your baby needs it and so does your book.
You can order over the internet and it’s delivered within days…