It’s been a miserable month and I still haven’t quite recovered from it. I’m still struggling to breathe every morning, and all attempts at exercise have vanished from my routine. But I see the sunlight through the tree branches, and the warmer weather is starting to help me perk up.
The downtime has given me a bit to think about with regards to my writing. As I get past the hump of the major timeline rewrite, I encounter another event in my story that I realize just isn’t logical. The character finally gets his friend to safety. I had him then leaving that safety so that he could encounter an old nemesis and have a long awaited smack down. Except, it’d be unintelligent for him to leave the safety, therefore unbelievable, therefore why on earth would I write it that way?
So I’m making more changes. Since I’m still struggling to get the fuzz out of my brain from all the illness, it’s been a difficult time thinking through the logical flow of events. But I see a way to tighten a couple of subplots and intertwine two POVs more. It’ll cut out a couple more chapters, which is good for my story, plus it also brings me that much closer to the end.
Things are getting exciting, folks. I might be able to finish my first draft this year, and that makes me one happy squirrel.
Do you ever find yourself rethinking previous decisions made in a story? Have you ever encountered a situation in your story where you realized it just isn’t logical for it to play out that way? How’s the weather treating you?
Glad you are getting better. Stay that way. Glad you figured out your fixes. Sometimes figuring out is harder than spotting it.
Oh, Loni! So sorry about the long haul back to wellness. Here’s to continued improvement. As to your questions: I’m in the middle of answering the first one right now. Re-thinking a huge decision in my WIP and scratching my head over where to go next. I’ve stopped working on it for now, and walk around muttering to myself a lot. What to do? What to do?
Here’s to being healthy and to writing up a storm soon.
Sorry you are still struggling.
At least you caught that mistake early. I’ve caught two major things but they were both near the end of the story and easier to fix.
The weather in L.A. has been pretty great in recent weeks. Sorry to hear of all the stuff you are dealing with. You might be living through an engaging story right now.
I’ve changed things in stories, but I can’t say that any of it had to do with logic.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
Oh, you poor dear. I hope you feel fully well soon. I know all about being sick and thinking about stories! I do often think I went the wrong way with something in a story, but I try not to obsess or change anything vital until I’ve had my CPs and betas read it over.
Sorry the month has been miserable 🙁
Even though it sucks, at least you’ve had some time to go over your writing and discover some things you want to change (which is a good thing to discover it now and not later). And I totally believe you’re going to get to that first draft!
Hope you start to feel better soon!
I always think it’s funny when I realize I’ve forced my characters to do something that just doesn’t make sense. It can be interesting figuring out how to fix it.
Glad you caught the illogic. Usually I have to have someone else point that sort of thing out to me. I guess your characters will have to get to safety later.
I hope things are on the upswing for you!
Oh gosh, I’ve had some, but nothing so major as with what I’m working on. Then the characters go off and do their own thing anyway.
Glad to hear you’re getting better. Hope your breathing clears up super fast for you.
And yeah, I’ve one wip that took a completely different turn to what I had planned. Fortunately, about 70% can be repurposed, but whole chapters have been scrapped because of it.
I’m so sorry to hear that you’re still struggling and it’s been a rough month. I’m glad you’ve been able to see some light through the branches though. Keep moving upward and hold onto that optimism! You have this!
Elsie
I’ve definitely been there with my first book and had to change things around. I’m trying not to get in that same pickle this time by outlining everything thoroughly, but I suspect there will still be issues and changes that need to be made.
Hang in there, Loni 🙂
I am so sorry you are still suffering with illness. And yeah, it is very hard to think when your brain is not working correctly. Hang in there! Yes I have had to rethink things because of that stupid logic thing. LOL
I hope you’re feeling better! And it’s always good to realize things aren’t logical before the book is published, even if it means more work. 🙂
Yes to both of those questions. That’s when it’s time for rewrites or else tweaking events to give them a reason to do those things. I call it character manipulation.
Hope you feel better soon!
Glad you’re feeling better. I rethink scenes all the time. Usually in panicked induced moments where I’m sure I’ve ruined the story and need a friend to talk me down.
Awesome on the first draft. Glad you’re feeling better. I was sick for over a week. I was so sick of being sick.
So sorry to hear you’re struggling, Loni. I think everyone who gets winter was well ready for it to be over this year.
Hope you’ve seen the last of the illnesses and can get inspired again. It’s tough when you have a big problem with a novel and you aren’t sure how to resolve it. While I haven’t done that to myself in a long time, there have been a couple books where agents have wanted major changes and that often stumps me. The rewrites usually end up being worse than the original.