Confession: I’m a terrible self critical writer. My inner editor sent me back to the beginning of my story and I went meekly. I’m told to press on, but I can’t. I think my inner editor has a great point: Flaws in early scenes disable the story later on. I have to fix the beginning to break through the 27000 word roadblock.
I blame my protagonist: she was spineless. Exciting things happened to her. Other, more motivated or decisive characters pushed her into the way of adventure, but she didn’t have the courage to make plot-shaking decisions of her own.
Her spinelessness is a natural consequence of my seat-of-the-pants writing style. I don’t know what’s coming next and rely on other characters and events to lead the way, to show me where the story is going.
That was great, and got me into the heart of the story world, exposed key themes and produced compelling characters. But now I have reached the point where my protagonist needs to take charge, to make risky decisions… or else just go home, return to the status quo having declined to choose a riskier, more adventurous path. Yawn…
Time for a protagonist make-over.
I’m giving her more willpower, more courage, and when I rewrite my way back to the 27000 word mark I expect this gumption-upgrade will carry my protagonist and her story past it’s 27000 word roadblock.
ibewriting 