My revisions are stuck have been stuck in the sludge. A scene in Chapter 12 needs a major alteration, and this change will affect scenes in several later chapters. Every time I think of a way to fix A, I see what will happen to B and realize that what must happen to C won’t work.
I’ve been banging my head against the monitor instead of brainstorming.
Yesterday, I compiled a list of who, what, why, where and how questions pertaining to the sequence of plot events. I started typing answers. When I ran into problems, I added additional questions. If the problems persisted, I started a new set of answers at one of the previous questions, and color coded the solution threads to keep them straight.
The result? I have a plan. I still have to write it, and sure, it might not work, but at least I’ve escaped the sludge in Chapter 12.
It's processes like you describe that make me question my choice to be a writer of novels! Yeah, I'm pretty sure you can't escape the plot domino. Kudos to you for doing the tedious work. :-)
ReplyDeleteLori:
ReplyDeleteYou're a great writer. Don't forget that. And the process I described wasn't that tedious - especially in mulit-colored text.
Congrats on crawling out of Ch. 12 sludge. I hope it works as well as planned when you get it down!
ReplyDeleteCasey:
ReplyDeleteMe too!