I’m still working on my scene list, and developing the characters, scenes, and world together, but it’s a little more challenging than I had anticipated. I have never tried to think of a story out of order before, so starting at both ends and working toward the middle has been a challenge.
One thing I’m trying to do is to figure out where some of the major turning point scenes are within the book: What needs to happen to get my hero to the end, and how can I achieve that in the most dramatic way possible.
On trap I have found myself skirting dangerously close to is the temptation to show everything that happens as my characters get from point A to point B, even if it is not terribly exciting or critical to the plot. That’s why I need these tentpole turning point scenes. If I have some point that I am trying to move my characters toward, then I hope it will be easier to skip past the fluff in the middle.
(That fluff, I think, is also a sign that I need to do more work on the characters and world to figure out what the next exciting thing to happen would be.)
This process requires a lot of thought and concentration, and it’s rather a challenge to pull off when I am only spending about 30 minutes every other day truly working on this story. It’s just not enough.