Adding a Chapter
On Friday I realized I needed to add a more significant scene wherein King’s Monster character Corbin faces up to the changes he’s going through. So after a weekend of grappling with possibilities, I’ve decided to add a chapter between the current chapter 24 & 25. And here I’ve been worrying about how long the MS has turned out and looking for places to cut!
I’m not leaping ahead in my editing process to write the chapter, however. I’ve scribbled some points about the new chapter on my writing whiteboard, and I’m going to continue trudging forward chapter by chapter. My theory is that I might pick up more ideas that I can use in the new chapter along the way. Besides, once I write that chapter, I’ll have to tweak conversations and events in later chapters, so there’s no reason to rush.
Sometimes I wonder if I’d have been able to avoid problems like this if I’d been formally trained as a writer — earned an English degree and/or an MFA in creative writing and learned all about things like character arcs in some kind of systematic fashion, instead of picking it up piecemeal. But then I attend talks or read blogs by well-established writers describing their own problems with plotting and think, “no, maybe this kind of thing is just part of the process.”
However, my goal of finishing this MS before school starts is starting to look elusive. At least, if I want to, y’know, get any class prep done beforehand….
drupagliassotti @ July 21, 2008