I broke a thousand words yesterday, but not without quite a bit of serious wheel-spinning first. If I were to include all the words that I wrote trying to figure out what I needed to write, I’d easily double that word count.

My problem, I realized eventually, was that I was in the wrong point of view. My Saturday words (which I still love) were in Natalya’s point of view, but since she can basically see a bit of gravel and some night sky at the moment, I needed to be looking through someone else’s eyes. I thought that would be Rose. But Rose didn’t have anything to do in the scene, no action, no agency. Eventually I realized something that I keep needing to rediscover–scenes in which the point-of-view character is simply an observer don’t work for me. I wish I could remember that before I start writing.

I think for my next novel I might really try writing a scene map ahead of time — not just an outline, but a detailed plan where every scene has a goal and a purpose, and I know where my highs and lows will be. With my usual writing style, I know where a story begins, where it ends, and a few scenes in the middle, but weaving those pieces together takes words. I’ve sort of thought that if I had it all mapped out, the actual writing would bore me–I love the little surprises along the way, the discoveries that circle back to previous moments, and so on–but it might be worth trying just to find out. I’ve wasted a lot of time on this project with words and scenes that went nowhere. I’m a little afraid that when I start editing, I’ll feel that way about more of them than I even realize now. But that’s for worrying about sometime in December.

Goal today: 1000 words.