I have been dividing my time between the real world (dishes, laundry, cooking, Easter bunnies, etc.) and June 29, 1778, which is the day my new heroine finds a wounded Redcoat in her barn. I am reading history books for research and working out a plot.
Plotting is a lot like walking through a maze. Other writers have made this comparison and there is a very nice blog post about it here. Like Cheryl Reif, I have run into a few dead ends in my plot.
Since I am writing a book about a certain time period, I have to factor in the cultural restrictions of the era. However, many women during the Revolutionary War displayed a great deal of courage. They were not shrinking violets. :^) Reading about the heroines of the Revolution is fun!
I do much of my plotting in my head. I'll fold laundry and think ...if this happens ... then that must happen ... no ... that won't work ... it has to be this way ...
So if you see me walking around in a fog, now you know why.
4 comments:
Plotting is tough for me, but I think it makes so much more sense than pantsing it, like I usually do. Do you jot notes for yourself or use a program like Scrivener or StoryMill as a plotting tool?
Jennifer,
I make notes. I haven't used any programs for writing other than Word. :^)
I like writing by the seat of my pants, but a roadmap is a great help and gives me a general idea of where I'm headed.
I was teaching a scuba class that David Poyer was taking. He said, "I have a scuba diver 200 feet underwater in a cave, he's lost all his equipment, no tank, mask or fins. I can't figure out how I'm going to get him out of there" The book is "Down To A Sunless Sea" and it's really good!
Mark,
Cool. I'll have to look up that book. :^)
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