The story continues, some of it matching my outline, some of it not. And I’m content to let it go wherever it feels like going. It’s still tough, every morning, picking it up and working on it when I haven’t bonded with the characters and I don’t know who they are, and nothing feels like it’s going anywhere…yet. That’s the downside of not outlining in advance–the story kind of sits and languishes or something until you start getting a sense of the characters and what’s at stake. I outlined and planned and plotted a lot of “at stake” ideas, but in the end, the story has to write itself, the characters have to tell it, and as the writer, it is my job to find the story and the characters.
This is a vulnerable time because you can just feel like setting it aside for something more interesting or set it aside hoping something will come to you–anything except slog on, waiting for the emotional connect to the story to happen.
But that’s why I’m writing updates in here and sending them to a coach–to keep me plugging on until my drive to write the story is coming from the story itself, and not simply my inborn need to be writing something.
Author Nancy E. Shaffer 