I’m hitting that everybody-out-of-the-pool stage of almost-spring, wherein I a) find some drastic new haircut to get me through the warmer months (there are few things as effective for new perspectives, I’ve found –well, few simple things– as changing what you see when you look in the mirror) and b) hit some new direction in writing. The past few years, that’s been me rounding into the home stretch of a novel, where I sit for a few weeks and suddenly all the loose ends start trying themselves into Gordian knots. This year, being sans new project, I guess I’ll have to settle –happily– for waking up to small epiphanies about why I’m stuck on these revisions, and what to do to get unstuck.
So over the next however-long-it-takes, I’ll be going back to that spreadsheet outline of mine, deciding this time not what changes to make to the scenes ahead, but what should be happening instead of those scenes. Because this story already works as-is… as an adult epic fantasy. So, to make it YA, I guess I’m going to need to tell a different story.
Not hugely different, but the plot as I have it now just isn’t budging, therefore I need a different plot. Same characters, same themes, same angst, (mostly) same goals: new obstacles.
Yay. We’ll see how it goes, but it already feels good, despite the hefty amount of work I’m sure it will be. Being stuck for the length of time that I’ve been stuck is an awful experience. I’m used to writing for an hour or more a day, and without that I feel like I just lost a job — despite the daily routines of work, exercise, meals, social life and whatever else, my day has lost something vital. Instead of brooding, I probably should have picked up a different project and remembered my favorite piece of writerly advice: when in doubt, just keep writing.
So, well, here I go. Again. 🙂
Oooh. And happy St. Paddy’s Day, if you’re celebrating (or if you’re not). I’m not wearing green, but I just had an avocado. I hope that counts.