Monday 26 June 2006

The first words are the hardest...

Right. I’m going to start my new book today. Honest.

It would be so much easier if I hadn’t taken a break to decorate my house, do copy edits and generally let life get in the way. I’ve lost the flow of the story.

I can’t seem to write unless I feel the story is ‘bubbling’. By that, I mean the point when my head is crammed full of ideas, I can see the scene in my head and I just feel itchy until I sit down and get it out of me. Of course, I can write when the bubbles aren’t there, it’s just that it tends to be awful.

I think the problem is that my plot is still a little sketchy. I went back to my plot board this morning and pinned some bits on it. It’s a bit empty. As I look at it, I know what is happening in the beginning and I’ve got a vague idea of how the story resolves itself, but it’s the middle section that is blank.

The problem is, this is a story about a couple reuniting and, although they are stuck in a car together, their journey is really an emotional one. So, before I can plot it, I am going to have to make sure my character arcs are solid.

More about character arcs when I have made myself take a look at them.

5 comments:

Jessica Raymond said...

Good luck, Fiona!

Unknown said...

(Imogen scampers off to find pen and notebook and returns to sit beside computer in the manner of an eager spaniel...)

Character arcs and pinboard updates... Yes please!

Nell Dixon said...

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

At least you've spotted the saggy middle syndrome BEFORE you wrote it. (Some of us, ahem, do it the other way round.) Hope the plotting goes well.

Fiona Harper said...

Thanks, ladies. I'm starting to feel I've bitten off a bit more than I can chew with this one. But, then again, I thought that with the last book...