Stewing


I’ve discovered I’m very definitely not an outline and voila sort of writer. I had a rough outline of the Australian djinni novella I’m writing. I knew the main characters, their motivations, the conflict, the black moment, the resolution–but for the last few days, being halfway through, I’ve been stewing over the feeling it’s wrong.

Turns out, as I write, I get a stronger sense of the story–all good, except that I also see the weaknesses.

Have you ever heard the story of the mystery writer who every time tension flagged, added a corpse? I’ve been adding villains, and that’s more than a tad confusing. The story remained coherent, but superficial.

So, today is the day I kill off a villain. The story will be rewritten. It will be tighter and tenser. But damn I wish I could draft a solid outline and stick to it.

Ah, well. Better I stew and correct problems now rather than read rubbish at the end.


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