I have a plan, reader.
For the first time in a long time, I’ve set up a writing goal for myself.
I am forcing myself to finish the first draft of my novel by May 31.
It’s been a tiring struggle against doubt and writer’s block. However, I’ve reasoned with myself that I must fight onward, no matter how embarrassing the result.
One such result was forcing one of my characters to steal a horse because I had absolutely no idea what to do with them.
You see, a bunch of intricate and entertaining things are going to happen in this tale: interdimensional portals, hopeless wars, death, and victory snatched from the maw of defeat. Sounds sexy, doesn’t it?
But I am experiencing difficulty with getting where I need to go.
So until the thought comes to me unexpectedly in the shower or while I’m teetering just on the edge of unconsciousness, I have to make due with what my mind produces at the time.
I try to be a plotter, but I’m a panster by heart.
This is my usual process:
Brain: Hey, remember how we spent days and weeks planning how we were going to make the main character do this thing? Yeah, they’re doing that thing now.
Me: But won’t that make all that time we spent constructing a plot completely irrelevant?
Brain: Don’t worry. If you keep at it like this, you should have the first draft done by the time you’re in your 40s.
Me: Sweet! *chucks notebooks used for outlines in garbage can*
I appease myself by reasoning that I can just take a giant pair of scissors to it later if need be. Until then, I guess I’ll have to power through.
My friends can’t understand why it takes me so long to finish a project or why it is so easy for me to give up. It’s likely because my ambitions are much higher than I am allowing myself time for. Instead of exercising patience, my go-to response is to throw in the towel.
Not this time, reader. This time I will make my characters do whatever I need them to, even if it kills them. I will make them search tirelessly, doing all sorts of useless crap until they are able pick up the loose plot threads and tell a decent story.
Who knows how long this story will be in the end? All that matters at this point is that it gets finished.
The Crooked Pen 