scijessreads

It’s been weeks since I’ve tried writing anything on that novel I’ve been picking my way through. I still have a backlog of chapters to post, but with my day job getting exponentially busier and more stressful than I was prepared for, things not involved in said job had to fall away for a while. Which sucks. But also, maybe it happened at a good time.

I printed out what I had so far, and realized that I was not hugely happy with how the flow was working. Moving back and forth in time is something I like when I read, but I’m not sure if it is the way for me to write. I have found that I am a combination of a linear planner, and a “pantser.” I like to have a thread, but each beat is written as it comes. And going back and forth in a timeline right now is not helping me keep the end in mind.

So, now the past and the future parts are separated, each with its’ own document. And in the end, I can go back and slot in the past sections between the current timeline where they best fit, and then just have to worry about smoothing the transitions. Which I hope will be easier once I have the story down as a whole.

At this point, I am thinking that I need to finish all of the chapters for the past timeline first, so I have that storyline thread somewhat complete. Then I can move forward with the present day sections. Most of the time jumping will take place in the first third or so of the book, and the remainder will be largely in a single timeline. I’m also playing around with how to keep a degree of dual POV throughout the book. The FMC has the majority of the POV chapters, but I need to keep the MMC perspective as well to serve as a counterpoint in the pivotal moments. And in the last section, I think it will be more of an even split.

So, that’s how the writing has been going. I’ll still post sections that are done here, but it will be much more sporadic, and they will likely change sequence as things all come together. The goal is still to finish by the end of the year. I have a decent chunk of time over the summer to work on it, which will likely be when the most forward momentum happens.