I did something in my writing yesterday that I haven’t done in a very long time. Like over a decade long time. It felt awkward when I was doing it, but I couldn’t think of any better way. Confession, I’ve actually done this a couple of times this week. It’s not a big deal since this is a draft, but still…
…okay, it’s really not a big deal. I wrote out scenes that were all dialogue and dialogue tag. 100%. No setting, no description beyond the occasional laugh or smile. It reads a lot more like a screen play than a story chapter. I also juggled six characters talking in each instance. It was strange. I don’t know if I like it because I don’t know if I’ll be able to edit either chapter when the time comes. I may end up cutting them both.
But it was a lot of fun. And it kept the story flowing from my fingertips.
It did cue me in to a second issue though. I’m really loving the first half of this story. And I’m absolutely infatuated with the way it ends. But the second half bits in between…I don’t think they’re going to work.
This seems to be a recurring theme for me. I plot out an entire book, I write it, I go back to revise and realize very large chunks of the story don’t make sense in the grand scheme of things. That’s the point I hit yesterday. This element that makes up the entire last third of the story outside of the main plot is its own story. Literally. I know this because I’ve already written the outline.
And I’m worried that introducing it here will make it convoluted.
Or maybe I can gloss over it…I’m a little confounded at this point. Stumped by my own convoluted plot. I’m thinking about writing through it anyway, and then cutting it later if I get a better idea.
How do you deal with cutting large portions of your story that don’t work when you don’t have anything else to replace them with?
Oh…interesting thought…maybe I do cut it and make it a novella instead…it might fit into a publishing line at a digital publisher…hmm….