A Novel Approach

After finishing the first draft of number nine in my Housetrap Chronicles series, I decided to work on an idea I’d been kicking around for a few years. Number nine is in the hand s of my Beta Reader, I have time to kill.

I had the idea for an opening scene for a novel, nothing else beyond that. But it was something I could visualize, sort of. I sat down to sketch out a few notes.  Then I began to write. At this point I had no characters, no plot, but an idea of the format of how I wanted to tell the story. By the time I’d finished the first rough chapter I had my two main characters. Better yet, I had the ending.

Of course, there is the all-important question of what goes on in the middle?

I’m blundering my way through this monster, with little to go on other than how the characters react to each other, and the events triggered by the opening scene. I’ve passed the 33,000 word mark and still seem to be going in a straight line. Characters I’d never imagined have dropped in to fill out the cast. Sometimes I have to take a firm hand so they don’t go astray.

Usually I have more control of what’s going on. I’m a pantser, but at least I normally have  some vague idea of what to expect in the middle of a story. In this case, I just have a faint light at the end, and my final chapter.

I don’t recommend writing this way. There is a fear of having long stretches of boredom, too much description, too many mouthy characters spouting off. Looks like it won’t be stuck as a novella, but will the project make it to a full-length novel?

This was supposed to be a serious attempt at a space opera, but already I hear hints of wisecracking going on among the mutinous cast.

And then today my fitbit gave up the ghost and I spent most of the afternoon wrestling with the replacement, to no avail. Good thing I managed to get some writing done this morning!

Where am I going with this? I wish I knew.

R.J.Hore

www.ronaldhore.com
www.facebook.com/RonaldJHore

The Dark Lady Trilogy (Volume 1,2,3)

The Queen’s Pawn (Volume 1,2,3)
The Housetrap Chronicles (Volumes 1 to 7 with #8 due out in July)
Alex in Wanderland,
Knight’s Bridge
We’re Not in Kansas
Toltec Dawn (Book 1 of 3)