I have been struggling a little this week to continue with the drafting of my fantasy novel. It was going along well and I think improving with every scene. But the problem is I’m not sure how to end it. I am getting close to that point, very close. I know that my main character wins the day, defeats the bad guy and finds inner peace and happiness, well, kind of. But I’m not clear on how she wins the day or exactly how she defeats the bad guy. It is during battle, I’m building up to it, but I just can’t see her actually do it.
My frustration has halted all writing for this work. Sometimes I think that if I just sit down and start typing, when I get to that bit then it will come together. But as soon as I sit down I worry that it may not happen and I freeze up. Then the stress starts that I’m not meeting my word count and that I won’t have the draft finished when I want to. It’s a vicious cycle.
So I am trying to calmly think my way around this problem. Trying to focus on the ending is not helping so I have decided to leave it alone for a while. I know there are large gaps within the story to the point I have got to. Still thinking about it as a first draft I am going to go back to the beginning and read through the entire story so far as if I had finished the draft. I am hoping that this will help with my ending and will enrich the rest of the story. I will be able to mark out what is missing, what doesn’t work, ensure it is all in the same point of view and tense.
I did some experimenting as I went changing between first and third person – I preferred first but played with third – I’m settled on first person now. I also need to think about the tense. I had wanted to do something different and so had written in the present tense. This seemed to work for me, it gave the piece some urgency, helped the pace keep moving. As the character had come to this world from our known one, we could explore the world and its peoples and customs with her; as she discovered things so do we. I also played about a bit here and tried the past tense, it helped with some aspects but I lost others. A read through of the document as one story will help decide which way is working.
I can then spend some time adding to the gaps and by the end of that process have a clear first draft. I can then start with confidence and clearer image of the overall story on the second draft. I like to draft several times. My first novel I reworked/edited 5 times. And I’m sure there is still work that can be done to it. It also sounds a bit messy when mapped out like that. Working back and forth, writing all over the place. But it seems to work for me.
Maybe with my planning for the trilogy my writing process may change somewhat too. Another experiment. If all goes to the current plan I hope to start writing the trilogy in February next year. In the meantime it is all about sorting out this fantasy mess.
Happy Scribbling.
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