November 03, 2010

The Twilight Zone Chapter

I almost accidentally titled this post "The Twilight Chapter."

Gah! Must think, Catt!

Every writer encounters a few problem chapters when writing a novel, right? The ones that just won't make sense, won't play nice, don't come easy, and contribute heftily to the 'hate' side of the delicate love-hate relationship between oneself and one's novel.

As my friend/beta Glenna so wisely said (and I hope she doesn't mind my quoting her), "Some chapters begin like mini-stories, some just flow."

And some totally, totally, totally don't.

Like my dreaded Chapter 13, which took months (MONTHS) to get to a point that I didn't want to cry out of sheer frustration every time I opened the Word document.

Or Chapter 37, which was Chapter 36, which was Chapter 35, which was...

Anyway.

Good ol' 3-7 is my Twilight Zone chapter.

It started out simply as a problem chapter, a la 13, but over the last few days it has morphed into something infinitely more bizzare:

I keep getting new pages out of it, splitting them off into another chapter, and still have pages upon pages of, as I so delicately refer to it, "garbage."

Twice this week, I've managed to expand a portion of Chapter 37's original text into enough of a scene that it justifies it's own chapter, somehow still leaving me with almost the same amount of original gar-bahj words.

I'm not sure how it keeps happening, or if I've even explained myself clearly, so forgive me for my Ramblin' Road Runner of a rant if it makes no sense to you.

Regardless, the story is getting better, so that's progress, yeah?

3 comments:

KatOwens: Insect Collector said...

that's definitely progress!

Pam Harris said...

Argh, I hate when I get stuck on a chapter. It's like you can envision it in your head, but the words keep coming out all wrong. But the best feeling is when you know you've finally tackled that beast. Good lick with the rest of your story. :)

Abby Stevens said...

Thanks, Katharine!

And yep, Pam - that's pretty much exactly how I feel, but you're right, it's very worth it once you finish!

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