The Struggle to Make Sense of Things

"When we read, we stat at the beginning and continue until we reach the end. When we write, we start in the middle and fight our way out." ~Vickie Karp

I love this quote...

So I am back struggling with my latest WIP Entwined - the women's fiction/literary romance/with paranormal elements that I started about 8 months ago. I'm about 60K words in and really love much of the concept...I just can't figure out some of the plot and how to get to the ending I want.



I usually outline my stories, but with this one I went to the extreme (for me, anyway - some authors I know do this for every novel they write): I wrote every scene on an index card, color-coded for different characters' POV, and laid them all out. Here's what our bed looked like yesterday afternoon:







While I thought this might be an exercise in futility, it turned out to be more helpful than I expected. I was able to see, just by looking, whose POV I needed more of. I was able to move scenes around and add scenes in a very visual manner. And I think I have a better idea of where things should go now.


My goal for today is actually to write the synopsis for the story (again, I never do this before the book is done) - I'm going to send it to a couple of beta readers for feedback, because what's inside my head is clear to me, but I need to make sure it makes sense to others. Sooo...I'm off for more struggling.


Hey! Today is the last day you can comment and enter to win the One Night in Napa Blog Giveaway ~ so I'd love to hear from you! The winner will be announced right here tomorrow, to help me celebrate my release!