This is how it works for me.
I write an outline.
Some character sketches.
Get a basic plot idea.
Start to fill in.
Usually I know what the first few chapter will be about. I know where I want to start. I know where I want to end.
I start writing, and it goes well.
I reach 10,000 words/5-6 chapters or thereabouts (because in no way is this an exact science) and I’m feeling the beginnings of the buzz.
Every day I hike. I’ve written before how it clears my mind, helps me organize my thoughts. Doing the dishes does the same thing. Or vacuuming but I don’t enjoy those two things as much as strolling up a hill.
I am not exactly sure what’s going to happen in the middle part. But I definitely know there will be stuff (remember: not a science) that will lead my characters to where they need to be for the end stuff to happen. It has to be inescapable.
So I begin to ask my characters questions. And this is where having done all the preparation helps. I ask them why they acted like that. Or said that? What motivated them to treat so and so in that way.
By this time I’m getting to know them pretty well so if someone says something that is not in character it jars me. I get an uncomfortable sort of an itch at the base of my neck and have to go in and change it all.
By this point(already) I can’t force my character to act in a way that is alien to them.
This can be irritating.
Because I have an idea of where I want them to go, and how they will get there so that this point in the story can be reached and all of a sudden so-and-so tells me they absolutely will not set foot in boat and I have to figure out another way to get them to the island.
A false dialogue rings false.
When I first started writing I had many forced dialogues and interactions.
It’s becoming easier to spot them now.
How about you? Do you feel/know when you’ve approached something from the wrong direction? Or forced an unnatural reaction on a character?
3 thoughts on “Feeling My Way”
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This resonates with me. I think my characters are doing what they should, but it's a good idea to ask them "why did you do that?" Great advice.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Thanks and you too, Jill!
I think every writer knows when they have approached something from the wrong direction, because our gut instinct tells us. The difficult part is accepting that and then putting in the hard graft to correct it. Re-writes and edits are laborious, yet necessary.