It’s a quiet Sunday morning in Chez Cummings, and I’m staring at a blank page. Not this one, of course. My blank page is in scrivener and is the next scene in the WIP.
Let me start this by saying the WIP is coming along smashingly. I’m at 46K, which is a respectable stab at my initial goal of 60k for the first draft. Why just 60k? Well, because I’m not looking to write a tome here, and because 60k is (at 250 words per paperback page) about 240 pages long. I’d like to write a little more than that, maybe get the book in the 300 page range when all is said and done, but I’m not trying to write a doorstopper here. While I like the idea of writing future books in the same world (and I’ve more than a few failed attempts in this milieu), I’m not looking to write a multivolume series. I don’t think.
The hesitation comes when, as a pantser (one who writes with a framework in mind, but no written outline), I start to wonder if maybe, rather than being at the end of my story, I’m really only half way through it. I know this is a slippery slope to be considering, but as my mind worms its way through these final chapters towards my original goal, I see room for so much more than I have envisioned so far. The subconscious mind, in an effort at world building, has allowed references to a larger picture slip in that are just damned tantalizing.
We’ll see. Temptation is great, I tell myself, but finishing is better. Maybe rather than being wrong about the length of this book, I’m just wrong about it being stand alone. Of course, a lot of this is so I can avoid the nagging suspicion that it’s all crap and should just be trashed.
Now I must return to that blank screen of mine. Later today I have another trip down memory lane post queued up, I hope you enjoy it!
Related articles
- Do You Outline? (wordsofprocrastination2.wordpress.com)
- Random Wednesdays: Unnamed WIP (Excerpt) (jackiejonesfiction.com)
- Writing with Scrivener – Pros and Cons (writersanontaunton.wordpress.com)
