Hey there, writing friends! Happy to report that I completed my 60 minutes of time tonight on my writing challenge.
Day ten means I am a third of a way through the challenge, and while I am happy that I’ve stayed on track, I am disappointed that I am not as far along in plotting as I would like to be.
Tonight I tried to tackle the pesky emergency scenes again. I made a little bit of ground as far as deciding where the POV switch from the hero to the heroine happens, but I got hung up again when it comes to the Hero’s PTSD taking over in this moment. I’m struggling how much to include, and ended up going down the research rabbit hole again.
This has been unexpectedly tricky for me, because as I research triggers and reactions, it’s causing me to relive some of my own past triggers and traumas, especially a big disassociate moment that experienced I really don’t like to think about,
I will be much, much happier when I can get past all this drama and move into the romance parts of the story.
What is also concerning me is how I am going to adequately portray the hero’s problems throughout the book. No trigger will be as bad as this one for him, but nightmares, lack of self esteem, and other issues will be ongoing. I guess I should get out of my head and stop worrying about it at this point in the game, because I can layer anything I need to when I get to fleshing out the actual writing, and then the editing.
The heroine has her own wounds that will impact her as well. I don’t want this to be a dark story… but I am just feeling overwhelmed tonight. Probably because I’m wading through my own emotional junk as I research. Last night’s lighter plotting was a much happier writing time.
The other thing that I am concerned about is that by making such a dramatic beginning, I am going to have to really be creative to keep the story ratcheting up in drama toward the climax. I’m starting off on a really high level–to use the mountain climbing analogy, instead of starting at the foot of the mountain, I’m already at base camp. It’s sharp climb up to the apex/peak of the story.
Again, overthinking tonight. I need to do some thinking on this while away from my computer as well throughout the day tomorrow.
I hope that your writing went well today, and that you kicked butt this weekend! You’re 1/3 of the way through. Yay you!
Happy writing and see you back here tomorrow!
–Karyn