This week at Mavens we are talking about story construction and when one goes off track. To do that, I have to address my writing process first. I usually have multiple plot threads working through a book. Then I create plot events for each thread. The challenge is splicing them together, like connections for a line of boxcars on the train. It won't work if I don't provide enough of a link from the scene before.
So, if my book goes off track, I didn't have a clear picture of where I was headed. This happens, probably to all of us. Sometimes the off-the-track direction is better than the original plan. When this happens, I do my best to make adjustments. When it is lifeless, I cut and rewrite in a fresher mode, oftentimes using my opposite theory. Whatever I did before that wasn't working, I turn it upside down in the rewrite.
There's only one story where I've doubted my opening. That story is still on the shelf, and I've rewritten the opening so many times I hate it. And yet, there's something about that story that just won't let go of me. Some day, I promise myself, some day I'll tackle that one and get it right.
Happy week everyone.
Maggie
a fresh new voice in Southern fiction
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