Soft Deadline Slippage – The Climb #840

Friday 11^th June 2021

I managed to write about 2000 words today – which technically isn’t bad – but it still felt like a day where there was a long of things done but very little to show for it.

I’ve spent all evening trying to tell myself that 2000 words is good and that when I do run out of steam, I’ve written for the length of my pre-pandemic concentration span.

Yet, I’m starting to think that my internal deadline for completing the first draft of this novel is going to move from 1^st July to 1^st August.

I hope not. It’s not that I want this novel done. I’m actually having fun with it… it’s just that I’m feeling the pressure to get something new out there. I have a plan, and I know the next first draft I’m going to write, but still, I want it done faster.

Part of the challenge is that the novel is comprised of loads of little scenes. I swap between a lot of POVs but then this is an ensemble novel. However, what I’m finding is that scenes are a lot more complicated.

Ordinarily I have a chapter which is comprised of 1 to 3 scenes, usually with a fixed POV. This novel swaps POV from scene to scene, trying to wind a story between characters.

I thought I might find it too much to have such a complex viewpoint, but it seems to be working well… except when it comes to chapters.

Chapters have pretty much gone out the window at this stage. Whereas scenes would be nested under chapters in the Scrivener document, they are all one big long list. And the chapter plan, has become more of a milestone plan.

I find that when I get to a new “chapter” instead of thinking about it in terms of start middle and end, I’m thinking of the next scene and what glimpse do I want to give in those 500 to 700 words. I’m not sure if I’m moving character forwards, if they have agency, or even if the scene is needed (maybe the points raised will be covered elsewhere). Sometimes I feel something happens and each character needs a couple of scenes of introspection for no reason whatsoever.

What I used to do with chapter would be to map out the rough plan. Goldilocks enters house, describe house, sees porridge, has flashback to childhood eating porridge, tries first porridge, etc.

It’s really a guide for me. I look at it and know I need to write about Goldilocks entering the house. When I’ve done that I need to go and describe what she sees when she enters, and so on. I’ve not been doing this on scenes due to them being so small.

But I start the writing day, and maybe rattle off the first scene fine. But then I need to write the next scene, and I’m not sure what the next scene is, or what happens with it. Hence, I find my word count struggle as I need to stop and ask myself what I need to write.

So tonight I spent a little bit of time and planned out the next three scenes. That should be enough to get me through tomorrow, but I want to ensure I stay on top of it so I always know what I need to write next.

Hopefully that will help me up the daily word count and meet that end of June soft deadline.