Have done something, through circumstance more than anything, that I’ve never done before – paused while writing a novel. That is, I finished the first 50,000 words about 8 weeks ago but – after going down a couple of blind alleys – I haven’t really done much since. I have, again unusually, been trying to write a synopsis though.
This has put me in the unusual position of thinking about a book, something I normally take to be a bad thing.
That is, I prefer to do a book in a rush of writing and then edit afterwards.
However, I have mulled, read other books and generally ground the old cogs over this one.
The result, surprisingly, is that I think I’ve come up with something really good. When I say good, what I mean is ‘character consistent’. If a character is being pursued and you want him to end up in a certain location, it’s very tempting to make him end up there by chance. He has to run in some direction, why not the one you want him to?
The answer, of course, is that it’s vaguely unsatisfying for him to do that, too easy.
What I’ve found is that, if you really let your characters sink in to your mind, the clues to their behaviour are right there. You’ve written them.
Plot, I find, either writes itself – as it did with Wolfsangel, or, frankly, is a nightmare – at least for me. I do an amount of words and then have one or two moments that take me ages to work out.
This has shown me that, if I start the book in good time, that need not be a problem. I just spend 8 weeks going ‘hmmm, ah, hmmmm….’
Good lesson not to panic in future, just relax and wait for midnight inspiration.
Trust your werewolf to find his way!