This afternoon while I was walking I finally figured out why I’ve been unable to make forward progress in the novel, why I’ve been stuck rewriting.
On the one hand, I’m frustrated that it’s taken me so long to make this connection. I’ve been stuck for close to three weeks now.
On the other hand, the mistake–where I got off track–happened back in chapter 2, and I’ve been trying to continue writing chapter 10. It’s a lot of emotional journey to rewind and set straight. But I must do all that work before I can continue.
On the other, other hand, I’m ecstatic that I know how to continue. I’m not going to finish this book by the end of the year. But I absolutely will finish it by the end of January.
If I had been using my old process, of writing out by hand then typing up, would I have still made this mistake? Probably. I think the process issue had more to do with the fact I had such a solid proposal, and I was following it much too slavishly at the start. The next novel I write from a proposal won’t have this problem. It will have other problems, I’m sure. (^_^)
I hope that everyone has had as stress-free a holiday as they can. I’ve taken a lot of time to goof off and relax. I think I needed it.
For me, I don’t write to discover the plot. I know what’s going to happen. I write to discover the emotional journey. The emotional journey is kind of the “why” of the story — why did the characters choose this? The emotional journey can influence the plot, and instead of landing in the center of the city I may end up closer to the outskirts. But it’s still the same city (or at least that’s been my experience so far.)
The proposal is a complete but incomplete outline. I feel as though it’s a path, one of many, through the novel. There are many other side paths that I could also take to describe the story. So much gets left out of the proposal. I had to remind myself of that often when I first started. Now, I feel as though I’ve freed myself from some of the strictures of the proposal and can just go fly and play again in the novel. And part of the reason why I’m sharing this with all of you is so I’ll possibly remember it the next time I do this.