Writing: Plot/Story
So I'm writing this...thing. It's not worthy yet of being called a novel, or a draft of same. But it's a thing and I've been working on it for a while.
Of course I've bitten off way more than I can chew. It's what I like to do...take on an impossible task, and wrestle it into submission. It's how I learn best but it doesn't always work; sometimes I'm the one who ends up hitting the mat. So this thing has 3 major POV characters and covers a couple hundred years of future history--flashbacks, hidden connections, the works. I've been wrestling with the best way to get into the full draft--really get into it. Not writing bits and pieces, like I've been doing, and not outlining, but sitting and writing the thing from one end to the other. It's like trying to catch a water balloon.
This morning I finally figured out how to do it. I've been focused on plot, and that ever-elusive bangup first chapter, the thing that'll hook the reader and drag them kicking and thrashing into the book the thing. But trying to plot this up front is like trying to detail a clay pot before actually throwing it. Instead, I need to focus on story--the chronological progression of events--and get everything down in draft form in the order it happens in my fictional world. As long as I mostly choose the right POV character for each scene, I should be able to use the chronological draft to piece together a workable plot for the second draft.
This is good. This is exciting. I finally have a door into this thing, instead of an endless series of windows.
