As you all know, I've been dawdling along, trying to finish my novel for a while now. It seemed to be chugging along OK - the wordometer was creeping up nicely - all except for one small detail... I didn't have a clue where it was all going.
Honestly, I was at serious risk of rambling round in self-indulgent waffle forever! But I've never been one for planning so I wasn't overly concerned about my lack of ending. I assumed my sense of direction would pitch up at a crossroads sooner or later.
And - hurray! - it did. The inspiration came when I was reading Lorelei Mathias's novel, Lost for Words. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Words-Little-Black-Dress/dp/0755332741/ref=pd_sbs_b_img_5 This sweet romance (which tells the story of a girl who knows she's in love – but she doesn't know who with) got me thinking. What if the situation in my novel wasn't all it seemed...
So, following a lot of back tracking and three point turns to see if it could be done, I decided to spring a shock on Mazie (and the reader) and throw the map out the window. It's time to jump-start Mazie's decision making process, goddamn it, before I get motion sickness with her toing and froing. Well, that's the idea, but I've never been particularly good with directions (I can't even drive) so God knows where I'll end up. You'll have to wait and see!
But in the meantime, don't worry - I'm not en-route to plagiarism-ville. My shock tactic is completely different to Lorelei's. But if I can pull it off half as elegantly as she did, I'll be chuffed to bits.
Can't wait to get on with writing now. The only problem is, I'm so excited about this new idea, I'm on the verge of shouting about it to everyone I know, ruining the big surprise. Opps.
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2 comments:
Sounds like your method of 'planning' is very similar to mine. I've started novel 2 this week by writing two unconnected scenes, both from somewhere in the middle of the book. Right now I don't know where it starts or where it ends. With novel 1 I didn't pin down the beginning or the end until the fourth draft! It came out OK though (I think!). Great news about the agent; well done. Oh yes, and congratulations on the wedding too!
Yah, well done on cracking the ending:-) Also on the stonkingly big word count. Married life must be suiting you:-)
Beautiful photos too. Congratulations:-)
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