The second ending.

And so, I left off wondering how I was going to write an extra 30k to make up the rest of the book. I figured I’d leave it short, work in a few extra scenes in the re-write and edit. It’s exciting finding out the characters story as they go, but it has its pitfalls as well.

I envy the structured writers, the plotters and outliners, otherwise known as architects. They know what’s coming up and can write the book from there; it works for them. Not so much for me. I’ve tried it and found the story deviating after the third chapter or so. The ending was the same, but the journey was completely different to what I planned. sigh

To the rescue, the subconscious. It is a wonderful thing. It works on a different level, and in secret. I never know what it’s going to come up with and by morning, I had the solution – I had, in fact, already set it up, I’d just forgotten in the mad rush to get the other scenes down. I should make notes as I write so I can refer – she says in a ‘do as I say, not what I do’ moment – to the reference points without pulling my hair out in frustration.

It’s great. Now, I just have to write it, because I cannot jump scenes either. No writing scenes and then fitting them together – that sounds an impossible task, and yet I know writers who do exactly that. I’m a sequential, organic writer.

Writing a book means riding the rollercoaster: torture your characters and then give them a rest before torturing them again. I’m currently in the valley, but it’s time to climb that hill again and hang on.

Then I can get to the book this one delayed. A complete change of perspective and characters and worlds, but the same universe. This is a story I'm looking forward to.