I've had some sequel ideas lately, which might not seem super helpful right now, but it's actually helping me figure out how things should happen now, so they can happen a certain way later.
The downside of looking ahead is that I'm realizing just how many words I need to write and it's looking more and more impossible. To give you an idea of what I'm dealing with…
Assuming a finished length of 80,000 words, which is basically the low end of acceptable, that means a major structural beat occurs roughly every 10,000 words. So the first beat, The Inciting Incident, where shit starts to get weird after all the "normal world" set up, happens 10,000 words in.
Here's the trouble. I don't know what else could happen between where I am and that Inciting Incident, and I'm at, let's see, carry the one… at about 2,500 words. So I need 7,500 words of something to fill out this beginning. And yes, I skipped over some boring shit, as I mentioned last time, but that's not going to have that many words in it.
I guess I need… stuff. Like, the fluffy shit in pillows that just seems like it's taking up space but is actually serving an important purpose (in that case, being comfy). My outline is very sparse. It's just, essentially:
- Introduce main character
- Introduce town
- Introduce boss/mentor figure
- Introduce coworker
- Fucking kill people
Like, that's all it is. It's very utilitarian. Fun things don't really happen, because I planned this to follow the eight structural beats and every sentence (Nay! Every word!) needs to move the story closer to the next beat. But fun scenes that build characters and fill out the setting are important too, aren't they?
Aren’t they?
I'm not good at fluff. I'm only good at murder. But, damn it, I want to be good at fluff. I want to write some fun scenes to lighten the mood for when everything gets super dark later. And it will. Because of, you know, the murder.
But I can't just sit here and groan about how it's hard, or I'm never going to get anywhere, and Camp NaNo is going end, and I'll still have nothing. So I'm going to go try to write something other than bloodshed.
So that I can get to the Inciting Incident and start killing people already.
I'll see you next week.
Title Source: Mass Undergoe - I Dug My Grave and Walked Away
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