There was a lot to get done this week, but I found a really good way of helping to manage it without getting too overwhelmed.
As is usual with my creations, Book Four has a lot to it, hehe! :D A lot of scenes need variations for the love interests for this book as we’re really getting deep into those romances now, and they’re also more weighty scenes that need the depth. As well as the branching now started for Tina, Verda, Bobby, Douglas, etc and the different paths for their stories.
It also doesn’t help that this villain wants ALL the MC’s attention in this book too…lol! So I think there’s more MC and villain solo scenes in this book than any of the other books so far.
With Book Three, I printed out the entire plan and put each chapter into folders. When I came to write a chapter, I took the whole plan out and got going. But I remember how intimidating it could be sometimes to look at the massive pile and realise how much I still had to tackle!
This time, to really try and help, I am only printing out the specific scene I’m working on. Not even the whole chapter, just that one scene. And it’s really helping!
For example, N’s opening scene has two variations to it depending on which version of it you choose. So already just at the opening that is quite a lot to write when the player only goes through the one scene. But instead of printing out both versions of that scene, I just printed one variation, worked on that, then printed out the other.
It felt SO good to just focus on that rather than be daunted by the rest of the pile of sheets stacked beneath it.
But this does mean I haven’t put the scenes into actual chapters yet. First time I’ve done it like this, and I’m not sure when to do it. Shall I end a chapter when I feel like the scenes lead to a good conclusion? Or sit and go through the plan again and chunk it up as I go?
I do need to go through the plan again as I have thought up some specific dialogue for moments that I LOVE that I need to make sure get typed in so I don’t forget, so I’m tempted to have a big readthrough of it again and do the chapter thing as I go. But that’s all time that takes away from writing, and I really just want to keep getting stuck into the writing.
It does feel very nice and flowy doing it this way though! Really hope that translates through onto the page and when you’re reading it
Hope you all the most fabulous weekend! We’ll be offline as usual, so I’ll update you all again next Friday! <3
