August 31, 2005
So I'm writing away on my work in progress, and it's all going very well, it's very exciting and it's probably the end of section 2, and I realize I've got a potential problem.

See, I don't outline my fiction, I write organically. Somewhere before the end I usually have to outline what I've written and figure out how to tie everything together. I typically know where I'm going and there are certain types of scenes I hope to get to. And I had a big twist planned and I'm still waiting for the right place for it, and it occurred to me that I may have written to a spot where I should probably have one of the characters do something that would make the twist impossible. Is that too confusing? I don't want to talk specifics, not just because I don't want it out in the ether, but I don't like to talk specifics about a fiction work in progress because you lose energy that way.

So it's time for me to sit back and think, not write. It's a chess game and now I have to think several moves ahead at the very least. Do I want Bad Guy B to chase the heroes, or does he need to stay in the main location so he can challenge Bad Guy A? I really think he needs to stay to challenge Bad Guy A, but I really need to up the stakes for the heroes... hmmm, I've already set up that the outside good guys don't trust the inside good guys and maybe they need to get into the site...

It's not enough to just write what first comes into your head. You really have to think it through a bit and work on drama, dynamics and how it affects the future events--and how it affects the readers. So I'm thinking, I'm thinking...

(And you can keep your remarks about smelling smoke, hearing gears grinding and not hurting myself to yourself, okay?)

Best,
Mark Terry