I got a lot done this morning, but not everything. Got eleven scenes for Heyr mapped out, and eleven for Pete, and one or two for Lauren. I’m getting a feel for the themes this book will explore, though I can’t really say that the main conflict has jelled for me completely yet — I’m still very much finding my way through the dark with nothing but fingertips and sense of smell, and there are times when this leads to some disorientation.
For example, I developed one scene idea that I like a lot, but that runs counter to most of what I’ve done so far. So, do I dump that scene, which I think would be powerful and compelling, or do I develop a counter-story subplot that would add layers and complexity (or perhaps confusion and fog) to the clearer scenes, or do I rework the other scenes, which all seem to point in that other direction, in order to make them support this one scene more obviously? Or do I just let it hang, and keep throwing things onto notecards, and see what happens when I start playing connect-the-dots with them in a couple of days.
Don’t know.
Writing a novel is no more a familiar process the twenty-somethingth time than it was the first. In fact, I think the first time might have been easier, because I had on blinders and didn’t see what an immense terrain I was trying to find my way across.
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