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I’ve been struggling along with the story I mentioned in the last post and it’s still being stubborn. I think maybe the issue is that I’ve gotten too hung up on this plot thing.I don’t know if it’s a bad thing or an okay thing, but I just don’t write that way. I’m not an outliner. My stories don’t line up like neat little dominoes, each one tipping over the next. I usually start with a character and let it tell me what it wants to do. Sometimes that’s interesting, sometimes not. I usually know pretty quickly which way it’s gonna roll.

So here’s what I’m gonna do. First, I’m going back to the last story I was revising, the one that caused me to realize that I’m terrible at plotting, and I’m just gonna let it do its thing without obsessing over the plot. Then, I’m going to submit it to OWW and let them tell me whether it is decent or not. If I get ten critiques that all say ‘OMG that’s not a story, there’s no plot’, then I guess I’ll obsess about this plot thing some more.

Next, I’m gonna take this story I’ve been working on and write it from the character, the way I usually do. This guy is cool as hell and if I can start feeling him, I think this story will flow and maybe even – fingers crossed – be good.

Wish me luck.

I’ve got a new story! It’s right here in my head. I think it even has a coherent plot. As a matter of fact, it is so detailed that I think I’ve only dug up a small part of it. This might turn out to be a lot bigger than the story I was looking for. But for now, I’m just trying to take a small bite and put together a short story that I’m happy with.

Problem is… the story is stuck. It won’t flow out of my head. I’ve been trying to write it down and every sentence feels clunky and awkward. I’ve tried several approaches and, in every one, I’ve come away feeling like something is missing. I’m thinking that maybe the story has gotten too big in my head and is refusing to be constrained to a mere 5000 words. I’ve promised it that if it will do this for me, and do it well, I’ll reward it by telling more.

So far, we haven’t come to an agreement. But I’ll keep poking at it until it we do.

I submitted a story for critique to the Online Writing Workshop recently. It was one of those rare ones that shows up in your head almost fully formed and ready to be put down on paper. I was pretty proud of it.

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