I finally admitted defeat today and realised that my latest story was going nowhere very quickly. I like the concept though, and it seems a shame to delete so much simply because I seem to have written myself into a corner. With a little planning and re-thinking, and maybe the introduction of an OC, I might be able to salvage it.
So I am stepping back from it, trying to ‘distance’ myself from the original piece and make something worthwhile from what was, initially, a piece written without any planning.
I tend to be a ‘seat of the pants’ writer; an idea, a beginning and an ending is all I needed for a lot of my stories. Surrendered started with one image – of Straker sitting in the moonlight under that tree, FarSight with his collapse in Headquarters, Glitch with the small dragon emerging from her spaceship.
What on earth made me start writing this story with NO idea of where it was going to go? I knew roughly how it would conclude, but the ending seemed unsatisfactory and predictable. So, I have settled down to plan it out. And that means timetables, drawings, blueprints, details of OCs.
It might work. It might not. But if I don’t try, it will never get any further than it is right now. Stuck at this point: Oh god… the phone slipped from his fingers.
Err, yes. Angst. Again. What else did you expect?