Friday, May 18, 2012

Ambivalence about winding up the story

For the last four or five months, I've been drafting new material for the novel I'm working on. It has been great fun because it has been loosely structured for me. Instead of drafting blind, I've been writing the elaborate back stories of the three main characters. I had to get each one from a starting point to the present moment of the main story. I knew a little about them from the main story and their interactions with each other and I had the wonderful task of sorting out the experiences that had gotten them there. Each time I finished one of these long back stories, I knew right where to go next--the next back story.

Well, now I'm coming to the end of the third story. I began the last chapter this morning in my early morning writing. I've a few things to sort out, a few scenes to write, but then this big task is finished and I need to both proceed with the main story and figure out how I weave in all the information I've come up with (I've written a lot--the three back stories are nearly 90,000 words, a novel's worth) and whether to use it all or sort it out in a different way.

So today I find myself ambivalent about winding up Callie's last chapter. I know that once I get back into the main story, I'll be fine, but right now, I'm reluctant to head into the unknown.