Wrap Up Choices

October 24, 2019

I think I have beaten back the sniffles (for the most part) now, and my task list is basically empty again at work. I still have so much of my main assignment to get done and deadline is 7 days away, but I can focus on it now. My stick is still a stick and I am making cheetah-like progress on wrapping up the end of my WIP. But a few things have come up that I am actually stalling the finish to consider.

WIP Revisions

I am facing some choices in writing the wrap-up that I am not approaching with the most confidence. In approaching the end of the book, I am seeing things that I already know I want to change during the developmental edit (DE). I have a whole page of bullet point notes for DE already. This is causing me to think that maybe, before I put the time and soul into doing the writing for the end, perhaps I should do a DE outline first.

Reasoning–Pro-Outline:

• Tying up all the loose ends means I need to make sure the ends are still there after DE omissions.
• Strengthening character arcs means some loose ends might crop up with the insertion of those arc muscles.
• The book covers alot of ground. Doing a DE outline might help make sure the end wraps things up in a cleaner and tighter way; so I don’t forget or downplay anything important.
• In reviewing the story for a DE outline at this point, I may find that the story doesn’t have the nuances that I think it does. The actual flavor of the story may require that I shift or narrow the focus of the end.
• Doing a DE outline will cover most of the work I plan to do anyway for the actual DE and for later querying.

Reasoning–Anti-Outline:

• Taking the time now to review and create a DE outline will stall my progress to the end of putting all the words on the pages.
• Any changes I decide to make during DE will probably not shift the focus or content of the end much, and the end will have to go through all stages of edit along with everything else.
• It feels like an excuse to procrastinate ending the book. I think all my pros are valid but it is not normally part of my overall writing process. I fear it would turn out to be a costly delay.

My gut tells me that there is some amorphous and mysterious reason that I really need to do this outline before finishing the story. Usually, the gut is the boss. But this one isn’t feeling cut and dry.  Thoughts, anyone?

WIP Words Written

My last chunk of words written covered a part of the story that I have been telling myself for weeks. In that story-in-my-head, a character is waiting for childcare in order to be free to join the debates of the other characters to develop some of the action of the story. Since writing it, and having a really hard time doing so, I realized that the childcare issue is cumbersome and unnecessary. Furthermore, her attitude in these scenes is melancholic and honestly annoying right after she had a personal breakthrough which should have made her at least hopeful if not cheery. So, exercising the magic of authorial power, I have tweaked those passages, given her the help she needs and allowed her to cheer up and join the conversation. She is an integral part of the collective brain that solves logistical issues that stymie her fellows. This took alot of my time during this writing session before I moved on to cover new ground.

That previous writing session took my WIP word count up by 2,396 words. I did not blog that night. And, I can’t count them as actual progress since I basically have to erase them now.

begin 141,376—end 142,856—words written 1,480

As I am closing out this writing session tonight, I am vowing to wait until at least tomorrow night’s writing session to make a firm decision on the DE outline issue.

Patreon Content

I am putting up a poll on Patreon to get some feedback from all of you about the DE outline question. Go register your thoughts on my Patreon page and let me know what you think I should do.

AW Mingling

Someone said they love my mind. 😀

Based on a response I posted to another participant, I always love hearing that something I wrote amused and made someone happy.

Twitter

I kind of want to join the #AuthorMentorMatch but I still am not sure how to sell people on my WIP in under four sentences. It might be good practice though.

Ɛ|3  Amy