Two Weeks Late…

As I’ve already established, I have severe problems with procrastination and follow-through, which is why my plan to finish plotting Reaper in a week has now stretched to three weeks and I’m still not done.

In my defense, I was working on some ideas to switch up my storyline a little bit, since that’s what was hanging me up so much before.  The good news is I had a “light-bulb” moment early today and now I know exactly how I’m going to be mixing things up as I move forward with the plotting of Reaper.  The bad news is I’ve got to kill someone.

Not literally, just fictionally, but still…I’ve had this character in every version of this story I’ve ever tried to tell.  He’s changed quite a bit over the years, and he’s come a long way since the jerk I made him out to be in the beginning, but he’s gotta go.

I wasn’t sure at first, but when I got to really thinking about Reaper I realized that the middle of the story wasn’t that great, and it wasn’t just because it was the first draft.  There needed to be something happening, something to spur Austin and Phoenix into action, a not-so-literal kick to the pants.

Why I hadn’t thought of this before is beyond me, especially when I consider how easy is was to pull this dude out of the frying pan and stick him in the fire.  It’ll be sad to see him go, and I can already tell it’s going to hit my other characters hard.

Have any of you guys ever had that happen?  A character that you absolutely love and want to keep in the story, that just ends up being another name on your writerly hitlist?

And I’m Back!

Wow!  It’s been a while.  A completely unintentional, really long while.

In my defense, it’s been crazy, with all the crap that went down with my ankle/leg break.  But now I’m back in one piece and trying to get ready for NaNoWriMo next month.  Is it really time for that again?

The answer-yes, it is!

I’ve had every intention of working on my manuscript over the past few months, but you know what they say about intentions.  Hopefully, this NaNoWriMo will be exactly what I need to get my butt into gear and finish this thing!

First off, I really need to redo my plot.  It’s scattered all over the place, and in two different tenses to boot.  So, over the course of the next week–Monday to Monday–I’m giving myself time to work on my plot, figure out my arcs, and see if I can make any sense of what I’ve done to the poor thing.  I’m crossing my fingers that it won’t actually take me that long, but just in case.

Second off, I need to consolidate all of my work.  I’ve got notes in at least half a dozen notebooks, and around three Scrivener projects.  What was I thinking?  I’ve recently bought a cool little notebook–well, two if I’m being honest–and I’m trying to get everything organized into those two locations, while also combining those projects on my computer.

Currently, my go-to plotting styles are adapted from a couple of my favorite YouTubers, Jenna Moreci and Katytastic.  Kim Chance also has a video about a few different methods for plotting and outlining.

My question for ya’ll today is this–What are your favorite ways to plot and outline your stories?  Let me know!