by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Things are going well with the first novel in the four novel series I’m writing all at once, but for one thing — I’ve got a first act problem. But things have grown so overheated in my mind about the struggle to figure out how to get from the beginning to where I know I want to end the first act that I’m just going to cool it for a few hours.
One issue that I have to keep at the forefront of my mind is who the protagonist of this novel is. Because I know what happens over the course of the four novels, I know who is REALLY IMPORTANT to the macro arc of the series — but that person isn’t the protagonist of this novel.
So, I have to think about the character and motivations of the person who is the protagonist. That is helping a lot to figure out — now — what goes on in the first act of this particular novel. But the more time I distract myself with other things, the more I realize that I need to really prep the audience for the dramatic events that take place at the beginning of the second act. As such, I’m having to think outside the box some from things that I have taken for granted would be in the first act.
Anyway, I’m distracting myself right now watching Kate Winslet’s Mare of Easttown and studying it. It is very much a character driven story and that’s something I need to lean into with the novels I’m working on. The better I know the motivations of the characters I’m working with, the either it will be to fix some lingering issues that are currently an obstacle.
But I can feel my mind beginning to get some solutions figured out. I will note that the more serious I become with this series, the less obliged I feel to write about writing it. I’m tired of seeming to be all talk and not work. But sometimes I need to left off some steam, so I write about writing even though I am growing weary of it.
