Still writing. Still Planning
Wow, nearly a week without blogging. Which is a bit odd but I swear I’ve been a good little writer. It’s just work again, I mean I’m doing more actual work and finding less time for bludging.
Though at home, writing is going very well. As of last night I’ve had fifteen days in a row of writing 500 words a day or more. I think that’s quite an achievement for me. It’s still mostly random flash fiction or vignettes, some containing my characters for NaNoWriMo, others just random characters. Sometimes I use it to try writing certain scenes with certain criteria. Last night I wrote from the perspective of two women.
The planning is still going. On the weekend I remember a trait of my main character that was going to play a small part, and brought it out more which adds some more push to his relationship with the woman in the small town he moves to. And many thanks to wilfulone, a fellow member of the Absolute Write Water Cooler, as she continues to be the critical ear I need to work out my plot and make it stronger and more defined.
Working out the climax and the ending is still proving hard. Part of my reasoning for dwelling over the climax and the more action-based scenes is that in the past, I’ve seen these scenes as making up a large part of the story and then when it came to writing them, these scenes lacked substance and did not last long at all. I felt they didn’t last long enough to live up to my idea of how significant those scenes were. So I’ve been thinking, to the point of overthinking, how these scenes are going to play out.
Added to this is a need to find a climax that leads into a satisfying resolution for both main characters. Is there a way to rationally plan your ending, or do you just have to write it and go with the flow?
Endings: I always plan my endings; or more correctly put, outline my ending. I know where its going to finish but not exactly how it’s going to play out. I find it evolves as I approach it.
As for scenes that are big turning points but don’t come across as such on the page, it’s all in the emotional details. It sounds like you need to fully convey the impact the scene has on your characters as it’s happening rather than worry so much about the action. If you character is there and experiencing it to the full then the reader should be too. The excitement from the action will take care of itself.