by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I have like 30 books to read right now. But I’m also writing. I have a pretty methodical way to develop each individual scene. I don’t want there to be any question about what’s going to be in a scene before I write it. If there is, I’m only setting myself up for a lot of heartache.
So, I find myself doing several scene summaries for each scene before I actually write them. It really, really helps so much with all the different aspects of each scene you have to juggle. I have very exacting standards for myself. I am also very neurotic, erratic and eccentric in my work ethic, so I sometimes wake up at 4 a.m. and write a few hours simply because that’s when the mood has struck me.
I’m just about to wrap up the first draft of the first chapter, I think. I’m really pleased with the cause and effect sequence of events (the plot, duh) I’ve managed to come up with. It flows really well.
As I’ve mentioned before, I am a little nervous about how many POVs I have. But I think the issue is a matter of focus. As long as I focus on the Hero (and group different people into easy to manage “groups”) then I think readers won’t get too confused. Again, I’ve been using The Girl Who Played With Fire as my textbook and he uses more than six POVs in that book, so I’m not going to stress too much about that issue.
The first draft is more about simply getting the story down than anything else. Once I get the first draft of the first chapter done, I’m going to go back to reading and general thinking for the July 4th weekend so I’ll be refreshed once that “holiday pause” is over.
