Another downside to “dream writing” is the transition from scene to scene (or night to night). e.g. I’m dreaming the big scenes, not the passage of insignificant moments that explain how the characters got from one event to another. I don’t have a good sense of time. I have to connect those dots eventually and move seamlessly from one scene to another, which isn’t always a quick fix.
Last night, my mind kept jumping ahead to a scene with Victor. (Gee, I have no idea why. haha) I know this scene takes place in the first half of the book, but where, exactly? Is it Act I, or the midpoint of Act II? I don’t know. I have a feeling it might be sooner than later, especially since I don’t know what happens in between.
And here’s where writing without an outline gets frustrating. I have no idea how long the story will be, because I don’t know the details of Act III so I have no way of gauging how far down the road I am. I’ve been writing careful chapter and scene breaks, but that may have to change because I don’t know what to fill the gaps with yet.
It’s sort of like excavation, and there are major parts of the skeleton still buried. I can only see the tips of bone protruding, and I’m going to have to spend some time digging them out. The trick is balancing my compelling urge to write down the bone sticking out part–it’s so clear in my mind right now, but I’m afraid I’ll lose the clarity. Like waking up from a vivid dream and feeling it fade away no matter how hard you grasp at the wisps.
But now that I’ve talked about it and aired some of the issues, I think I have an answer to my question about that scene with Victor. I’m pretty sure it’s the “crossing the threshold” scene for Vicki to end Act I. Either she’ll accept the journey or she won’t. (Who am I kidding, you know she’ll accept the journey–but I need to cover her doubt.) So now I have the goal to write toward for the end of Act I.
Hope some more bones start sticking up soon.
Of course, the other problem I’m battling is time constraints and other commitments. My first priority this week is The Bloodgate Codex. First round of revisions are due back by 2/28 and they are not tiny little fixes, but changes that affect multiple scenes (trickle-down effect). I didn’t work on it yesterday because I needed to let my mind adjust to Xbalanque = Balam = Ruin in my mind. The dust has settled, and I’ll be tackling a second bullet today.
Vicki will be my reward tonight. But maybe I should jot a few notes about Victor before I forget…
I wonder… are you the type of writer who can write scenes as they come to you, and then go back and fill in the holes and transitions later? To an extent I can do this, but not with a whole novel. Might be a way to start Vicki’s book, though.
I have written out of order before, but I almost always have to rewrite those scenes when I finally reach them. It’s that old chaos theory example: change something minor in chapter one, and a hurricane blows out the scene I’d planned for the midpoint.
I satisfied myself by writing the Victor dream in my journal by hand early this morning. Er, only 7 pages worth. *dies*
I don’t focus on chapters when I dream write. I just note the scene breaks and then when the rush of the dream state quiets I cut and paste into order…it also makes it easier for me to fill in the transition scenes. But hey, I’m not published either, LOL
Good luck getting all the edits worked out, at least you have the cookie of Vicki’s story at the end of the day.