By Melodie Campbell
Yes, I’m at that point. The chaos point. Writing to a specific word count, three-quarters written, and my twentieth novel is an unqualified mess.
If you are a veteran writer like me, you say it’s not going to happen this time. But it does. EVERY FREAKING TIME.
Here’s why:
THE LINEAR APPROACH
This time, you are going to write linear, by gawd. One chapter after another, in mathematical order, until you reach the end. Each chapter will have an outline.
Because THIS time, you were organized. You plotted before you started. Three Acts and a Finale, all laid out in glorious order.
Before I go any further, let’s look at that.
THREE ACTS AND A FINALE
Here’s the best advice I can give for avoiding messes:
If you want to avoid Saggy Middle Syndrome and hitting a plot wall, don’t rely on your pants. (Mine are far too big and flabby.) WRITE A PLAN. At least, write a small plan.
It can be a complete chapter by chapter outline, but I personally find that a wee bit oppressive. If I know EVERYTHING that is going to happen in a story I’m writing, I get bored. Magic happens along the way sometimes, and you don’t want to miss those moments.
So I do a modified outline: Three Acts and a Finale. Yes, there are other ways to outline a book. To me, they all look like tedious work (yawn). Whereas I can put my plot easily into three acts without busting a gut.
So here goes…
MINI PRIMER ON THREE ACTS AND A FINALE
Inciting moment (one example might be the reading of a will which gathers the main characters together, leading to…)
- Crisis one (maybe first murder?)…setback…
- Crisis two (usually second murder)…setback…
- Crisis three/black moment (protagonist in danger)
- Climax…finale (murderer revealed)…denoument.
You can have more than three acts, of course, just like you can have more than three crisis points. But I think it’s very important to know at least this much about your story when you are starting a book.
That second crisis point is really important. I tell my Crafting a Novel college students that if a story wallows with Saggy Middle Syndrome, I’m willing to bet it never had a second crisis point around the middle of the book. Don’t just lurch from chapter to chapter. That’s soap opera writing, where bad things happen, but they don’t relate to an overall plot goal. We’re writing a novel here, not a soap opera.
Takeaway: If you don’t have at least three crisis points (or plot points) you don’t have enough plot for a novel.
Three Acts and a Finale. That’s how I do it. All those lovely plot points set out with increasing tension and in glorious order.
THAT’S A GOOD START, BUT RATPOOP HAPPENS. THE CHAOS POINT IS INEVITABLE.
You signed a publisher’s contract on the basis of a synopsis and the first three chapters. Meaning, the book hasn’t been written yet. That contract specifies a pretty exact word count. Is your story going to magically end at the precise word count you need?
Damn straight, it’s not. It’s going to meander along, minding its own business, taking little side trips, refusing to stay on course. Pass the scotch.
Because, of course, outlines are just that. They’re a guide. You don’t know whether the story is really going to pull together with sufficient motivation and all the goodies until you actually write the thing. And here’s what happens mid-writing:
You need a new character to make the plot work. You just thought of a fab new subplot, requiring a fourth act to your story. And maybe a fifth.
Orlando doesn’t work as a side-setting. You need to move it to Phoenix, and that means a whole lot of changes.
Timing doesn’t work anymore. You can’t have lunch in Buffalo, drive to Toronto and fly from there to Phoenix for dinner, even with the time change…so you have to work backwards and make that lunch become breakfast, and …
Ratpoop. They can’t leave Hamilton to get to Buffalo in time for breakfast, because the reason they leave The Hammer is because of the bank robbery/hostage situation. And…the bloody banks aren’t open that early. Therefore, no hostage.
Pass the scotch.
Before you know it, you’re scribbling on the outline, adding this, subtracting that, and then it happens. Your book is a mess. You’ve reached the chaos point.
BUSTED MY GUT ON THE OUTLINE – DO I HAVE TO WRITE IT IN ORDER?
I heard Louise Penny once say that she does a chapter by chapter outline which means she doesn’t have to write in order. She can decide to write whatever chapter she wants on a certain day. “Oh, today it’s cold out. I feel like writing chapter 38.” She can turn to the outline for chapter 38 and start writing, even if she hasn’t written the chapters before it.
I also don’t write in order. But unfortunately, I’m not Louise Penny (although my bank account would like me to be.) My method is more like this:
Write the first three chapters, to see if I like the characters and plot enough to devote 1000 hours to the manuscript. Then skip to the climax and finale, to make sure I have a bang-up ending to justify the writing of the book. Then go back to the beginning and write forward, skipping over scenes I don’t want to write right now.
(It’s weird. Some scenes are just hard to write. I find it’s much easier to almost finish the book, and then go back and tackle those orphan scenes. Lots more incentive to finish them when the book is 90% done.)
You can write out of order, too. Works great, until it doesn’t. And that’s why my current novel is a mess.
HOPPING AROUND THE BLASTED TIMELINE
I write comedy, and comedy is finicky. Those good lines come when they come, and you have to get them down fast. Anne can attest to that. Sometimes they’ll present themselves to me when I’m in a restaurant. Sometimes, when I’m already in bed. (Yes, I keep a pen and paper on my bedside table. Ditto, by the loo.)
I have my three acts and a finale outline handy. But when writing a highly comedic book, you have to write those funny scenes when you are inspired. This means hopping around the timeline, writing the scene that works for you today, thinking of another great line, hopping back to an old scene to insert it, when you should be moving forward.
Which brings you to this point: the important scenes are written, and they present themselves like completed sections of a jigsaw puzzle. You need to put them together. Find the pieces that are missing and write the bits to connect them.
Because Sister, your novel is a mess.
That’s the point I’m at now. The comedy is there. The conflicts are in place. The climax is written. Now I need to take that kaleidoscope and move those pieces into the pattern that works best.
How to cope? I think the best thing you can do is accept that this is going to happen. Even if you create an outline. Unless you are a writing automaton lacking inspiration, you are going to veer from the plan more than once.
At some point, every novel you write is going to be a mess. It will reach that chaos point.
My advice: just accept it. And understand that part of your role as writer is that of clean-up artist.
That’s where I stand today, staring at a story that looks like a tornado just ran through it.
Time for the cleanup crew. Pass the scotch.
by Melodie Campbell (@MelodieCampbell) May 10, 2020
***
What about you, scriveners? Is your novel a mess? Have you ever been so defeated at the chaos point that you gave up on a book?
MELODIE CAMPBELL Called the “Queen of Comedy” by the Toronto Sun, and the “Canadian literary heir to Donald Westlake” by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Melodie Campbell has connections in low places. Don’t dig too deep. You might find cement shoes.
Melodie has shared a literary shortlist with Margaret Atwood, and was seen lurking on the Amazon Top 50 Bestseller list between Tom Clancy and Nora Roberts. She’s won the Derringer, the Arthur Ellis, and eight more awards for crime fiction. She didn’t even steal them. www.melodiecampbell.com
BOOK OF THE WEEK
THE GODDAUGHTER DOES VEGAS, is shortlisted for the 2020 Arthur Ellis Award! (Crime Writers of Canada).
Available at all the usual suspects, including Amazon
OPPORTUNITY ALERTS
The Golden Quill Award. Theme: The Unexpected. Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Memoir up to 1000 words. Poems up to 40 lines. Prize determined by number of entries. $10 Entry Fee. Deadline August 1.
The Writers Digest virtual SciFi-Fantasy weekend conference. This looks like a great opportunity for new authors in these genres. You get to pitch to agents specifically looking for your subgenre. Plus there are lots of great courses with personal feedback on your writing. May 14th-May 17th
THE STRINGYBARK TALES WITH A TWIST AWARD $14 ENTRY FEE. 1,500 words. Must have a twist at the end of the tale! 1st prize A$350 2nd prize A$250, 3rd prize A$125 cash. Stringybark will publish the winners. Deadline May 13, 2020.
RAYMOND CARVER SHORT STORY CONTEST$17 ENTRY FEE. Literary fiction up to 10K words. Prizes: $2,000, $500, $250, and two $125. Three literary agents do the judging. Winners announced August 1. Deadline May 15, 2020.
LITERARY TAXIDERMY SHORT STORY COMPETITION$10 ENTRY FEE. Prize $500 as well as publication. Write an original story of up to 2,500 words in any genre. The catch: We provide your opening and closing lines from a classic work of literature. You provide the rest. Deadline June 4, 2020.
12 PUBLISHERS FOR MEMOIRS! You don’t need an agent. From the good folks at Authors Publish
***
Featured image “Tangled” by Linda Drake via Flickr images.
Melodie — good to meet you. You are not alone. I am among your many writerly siblings out in the world, & all our WIPs are a mess. Such is the nature of this wacky profession/hobby we’ve chosen. Thanks for being part of the tribe.
So nice to read your comment, CS! It’s nice to be in good company. I still shake my head and say, you’ve done this 19 times, WHY can’t you write without making a mess? grin Thanks for commenting!
Melodie—LOL What else is new? 😉
Great post and points out exactly why I always say “It ain’t the writing. It’s the re-writing. And the editing.”
Which, in fact, is the good part: turning a mess into something fabulous someone else actually wants to read.
Have fun with it. Seriously. Enjoy!
Ruth, you are always my voice of reason. Yes, your second para is perfect: turning a mess into something fabulous someone else actually wants to read. I will remember those words, and quote you!
Nobody wants ratpoop!
I couldn’t write without an outline and knowing what happens when. Never tried writing out of order though. I might confuse myself.
Alex, the problem is having to produce the synopsis BEFORE they give you the contract! If I want that first third of the advance up front, it has to be done. Mind you, I think mystery writing requires more upfront plotting than my other genre (fantasy). Thanks for commenting in such a fun way!
I really enjoyed your post, as I am elbow deep in first revisions of an over-outlined book. (I had a third of the thing written before I discovered I had the wrong main character, so I decided to power through with the new plan and fix it later. Hence, the mess.) And I loved the line about good ideas sprouting in bed. That’s happened to me so many times! And usually after a session when my brain feels stuck.
Oh, I can relate to your first third rewrite, Dominique! In my WIP, I’ve figured out it will only come in at 50,000 words. Not enough. So I have to go back to the beginning and weave in another subplot. Can’t just ‘drop it’ – have to rewrite the blasted thing all the way through. Thanks for commenting!
Marvelous post, like all the good ones not afraid to tell us what you see in the mirror. You lost me completely at “You signed a publisher’s contract…” but I came back in with a “hallelujah, testify” when you averred that indeed, ratpoop happens. I tend to wait it out: that requires the luxury of being off schedule, but inspiration seldom betrays me if I keep looking at a scene or a plot thread and wait for it to come out right.
Related to that, I loved the part about devoting a thousand hours to a tale as well, and I bet you’re not exaggerating. Cleaning up takes a long time. Especially ratpoop.
Smile – thanks for that fun comment, William! I wait for the shock on the faces of my Crafting a Novel students when I tell them to put aside 1000 hours. They may finish a first draft in 6 months working part time at it, but that’s only the beginning as we both know!
Enjoyed the humour, Melodie. Like yourself and Louise Penny, I too write whatever chapter, whatever scene strikes my fancy, thank you very much. I hope the clean up turns out to be more fun than you thought. Leanne
Leanne, always good to hear from you! I find the cleanup work, no question. The fun for me is in the creation of the story. My agent asked if I could write one of my published book into a screenplay, and I tried, but it wasn’t any fun as the story had already been created.
Great post, written with humour and yet lots of great advice and information! Thank you! Now back to my saggy middle (and not just in my novel) and in place of scotch, a great big glass of red wine.
Thanks for commenting, Catherine! I’ll join you with that red, if you have spare.
Nice piece about keeping it together and not letting the middle kill the end, Melodie. I’ve found a structure that seems to be working for me in this “sorta-like-true-crime” series I’m progressing with. I first do a linear timeline (like a flowchart) with each chapter being a scene which I mark with the date/time/location and what happens to further the overall story. I then write it progressively, and I think bouncing around would take me out of the flow. It also allows flexibility for those character that inevitably show up and try to take over.
This works for me, so I thought I’d share my two cents. At least it works until someone passes the scotch and the whole thing turns to ratpoop.
Smile. I can do it that way with fantasy, Garry. My trouble comes when I have the story mapped out, and pretty well written, and I don’t come to the contracted word count! That’s me now. Struggling to build in 10,000 more words.
I’m a meticulous planner. But while writing, it never fails, a better idea strolls through the middle of my perfectly organized plot and blows it up with a molotov cocktail. Boom! Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. And somehow, it all works out in the end. 🙂 #writerslife
I love your explosion metaphor! That’s me all over. THIS TIME, I’m going to follow my outline and not get distracted by a delicious new idea. Okay, NEXT time, smile.
I’m afraid that if I wrote the scenes I wanted to write first, I’d never write the scenes I did not particularly want to write. I spend a lot of time and thought on the outline, my editor approves it, and I start writing, following the approved outline. But yes, ideas happen, and so do rewrites, especially details I rushed past in the first draft. And the second draft, and the tenth . . . If it weren’t for deadlines, I’d never stop rewriting.
Ginger, I am so like you, re the deadlines! They keep me honest and on track, rather than working on draft 19 well into the next year. Thanks for commenting.
I like to write linear, from beginning to end. However, sometimes it is best to “write backward” starting from the conclusion. I should try writing out of sequence. Perhaps I would procrastinate less.
Great article, Melody.
I think that if you write mysteries, especially classic fair-play mysteries, you sort of have to write back to front, to a certain extent. Leading the reader to the conclusion with clues. But your point about procrastination is well noted. I tell my students to skip over parts they don’t want to write, and just keep going. They can come back later to fill in.
It’s reassuring to a novice like myself to hear that seasoned authors deal with a bloody mess in the first draft. I’m working through the first revision of my first novel (did the first draft with an outline) and I still can’t believe all the holes and irrelevant tangents I’m finding. WTH? I do write chapters out of order, especially when I get stuck along the way and give up on the blank page taunting me. It gives my subconscious something to work on while I carry on and keep writing.
That’s what I find is the key, Lee! To not get stopped and just give up. Instead, skip to the next piece of dialogue/action and keep going. Thanks for commenting!
Arghhh! When you were writing about saggy middle I was sure you were writing about my appearance, as stuffing food in my mouth seems to be greatest occupation during the lockdown! Then the big reveal – oh! she’s talking about writing, not the last time she saw me! Whew! Well, yes – we all know what it’s like to venture into chaos with a novel. Like putting together a jigsaw puzzle and trying to find where all the little pieces should go to make the whole…sigh…
Laff! I shall only be wearing black for the next year, until I drop the weight I’ve already gained, spending all my time at the computer like this! Thanks for commenting, Joan.
Wonderful entertaining blog, Melodie, and so true. I’m a linear writer and always, always, something pops up to derail my nice, neat outline. And the story is better for leaving it in. Even after 90 books. Probably why I’m still writing. It’s like fishing. If we caught a fish every time, where would be the challenge? I just wish someone would discover the perfect bait for plot-fishing.
I agree, Valerie! 90 books Wow! I have 20 books and 50 short stories, so you’ve already written 20 more plots than I have. It gets trickier finding plots you haven’t written before and original characters every time. Thanks for the fun comment.
Wonderful post, Melodie. I write a synopsis first and fill in the subplots as I go. A synopsis has to be done anyway, and a detailed outline sucks all the energy out of me. But, I have still gone snow-blind looking at a blank screen much more often than I’d like to admit. I might try writing out of sequence instead of just jotting down a brief chapter idea and then going back to it later to try and fit it into the linear progression. It’s hard to break a mind-set, but that side road may be more fun once you get over the hill.
That’s a wonderful way of putting it: The side road may be more fun once you get over the hill! Seeing as how I’m heading over the hill this very year (big Birthday) I will remember this quote and use it for numerous purposes. Thanks for commenting, Brenda!
What an excellent blog, Melodie! Just think what this would have cost to learn it in one of your classes. Lucky students!
Thank you, Thom! We do have fun in class. I call myself lucky to have great students like I’ve had this year.
I’m on the second rewrite of my first novel. I know the ending and major points — but I’ve hit an emotional/energy speed bump just after the second crisis. If this part bores me, how can it make the reader feel any different? This post was a fun inspiration for me. Keep plugging away. Write another crisis point or climax or just keep writing till I reach the points on the timeline. I can go back and fix things. We don’t write on stone tablets. Thank the good Lord. Most importantly, sounds pretty normal. Thanks Melodie.
We dont’ write on stone tablets – Jamie, that is a quote worth stealing! Or as I put it to my class: “I can’t fix what ain’t wrote.” Thanks for commenting!
My life is chaos. Writing is how I bring order to my world. However, sometimes you have to make a bigger mess in order to clean up.
For me, novel writing is like putting together Ikea furniture. If you don’t do it in the right order, it doesn’t fit together properly. Even then, I end up with missing bolts, extra nuts, and I lose the Allen key at least once in the process.
Laff! I love your metaphor, Alison! Particularly about losing the Allen key. I will remember that, and use it, thinking of you.
Besides the humor, I appreciate this nice visual on your creative process, Melodie. I’m a plotter, and I find it beneficial to see the multiple ways authors go about writing and revising their manuscripts. Maybe I should try this exercise of “skipping scenes,” and head to the end, so I don’t get stuck with the beginning. Thank you for the tips!
Just saw this now, Kelly – thanks for commenting! I tell myself that just because I’m stuck on a scene doesn’t give me the right to plead ‘Writer’s Block!’ Just skip it and move on. No more excuses for me – grin.