Where Ladybugs Roar

Confessions and Passions of a Compulsive Writer

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Day Eight-- Where your plot suddenly

So, I suspected this yesterday, but yeah... my throat is toast, I feel achy. I've been nailed with something new and exciting. It's probably just T's cold. Still, T is just raining buckets of snot. He thinks it's hilarious and finds particularly ghastly sneezes to be amusing. So, really--with a little boy literally spraying snot, it's not such a huge jump that I'm sick. So, I'll be applying cold medicine liberally to my day.

As for writing, I know a ton of you write with an outline, but I sooooo don't. I start writing and when I get to the end, I stop. So, my current story is going along well, but I don't know how it ends. I'm closing in on the end of the book and I have no idea if there is a monster there or not. This isn't so massively unusual for me to not know twenty steps ahead, but it's a little disconcerting when I'm not dealing with a mystery this time. I have a problem instead of a mystery--I have all these pyrodemons running around that my MCs need to take down, but that will require a big throwdown and I have no idea on the hows or whens of that. I'm not entirely sure how far away that is either.

I'm not sure how to deal with a plot that suddenly stops. I guess I'll just keep writing and hope that chapter by chapter I'll get there.

In the meantime, I have two hormone driven teens that I've got to keep apart. Do any other YA authors have situational cold showers that they use to avoid massive makeout sessions on the couch?


5 comments:

  1. I feel your pain. I have no idea how the hell mine's going to end either, but it's a fun ride. Sometimes.

    The joys of being a YA writer...I'm not sure what advice to offer you. Perhaps the female MC can watch a video of childbirth? That scared the crap out of me when I was 16...Hmm, perhaps that's why I haven't had any kids yet???

    Pyrodemons?? You're book sounds awesome! That's what Reject High is missing--demons!

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  2. It's always good to have someone walk in on them:)

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  3. Wow, I'm glad I'm not the only one who flies by the seat of my pants! Yay! I can NOT believe you are almost finished with your book! Ack.

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  4. Yeah, someone walking in, an important phone call, depending on where they are, any interruption works, really. They could be in a car and a cop knocks on the window. In the grocery store and a little old lady asks them for help. In a restaurant and someone starts choking, etc. etc. Any situation where they wouldn't have a choice but to react.

    Best of luck, I think as long as you keep writing you'll figure something out eventually, whether what you are writing stays in your final product or not.

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  5. Jade, there is nothing like a nice childbirth video in the middle of a story to really put things into perspective for the audience. (It could be worse--oh and this is what sex gets you, kids. Cheers.) LOL.

    Tina, I thought of that. I've used it before. It's a little cliche, but I think my mom has used that to her benefit when we were dating.

    Deb, I fly using my arms--the seat of my pants has proven to be ineffective.

    L.T.-- at first, I was trying to picture my MCs making out in each of those scenarios before I realized that you were suggesting to reset the mood--not necessarily interrupt action. It seemed really strange for my MCs to ever start a little "something something" in a grocery store or a restaurant, but I was thinking maybe I was just conservative. "We'll need a cold shower and a clean-up on aisle two."

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