Conundrums

The sun is warm, the breeze is cool and Autumn is beginning to show her colours.

I love this time of year. My energy and creativity start to rise, and that's a good thing, because usually, I've written myself into a corner.

Some conundrums remain unsolved. Actually, I have a dozen or so unfinished novels because of corners.

For example, the heroic epic I started oh, years ago where my two heroes were caught by the bad guys and forced to fight in an arena. If they did not, their companions were doomed (note the echo when you say that). I could not, and still can't, think of a way out of the dilemma without introducing an Ex Deus Machina.

Yes, I could delete that part, or change something, but it was important to the story that the heroes find a solution to earn the respect of the people they'd come to try and gain as allies. After failing to find a solution, I set the piece aside. Should I go back to this work, I'll probably wince since I was just beginning to write.

Organic writers run this risk every time they set fingers to keyboards. Plot writers already have it worked out. Damn them! But neither way is easy; one finds solutions while writing, and the other before writing.

These days, I've learned not to do it, or at least avoid a scenario where it might happen. I've also learned to think ahead in the story while writing the current scene. It takes practice, but it's helpful when you're pounding away at the keyboard at warp speed.

Speaking of which, I need to go off and try and get Rhianna Sagan out of the latest mess she's fallen into. Next instalment is up at The Takeaway.