‹ Back

4/24/25:

 

    I know how it happens. But I don’t know why.

    I’m sitting here typing into my laptop. I have my outline in front of me. I have written this scene at least twice. I know exactly what happens. I start writing it. The writing takes a few turns, then: boom. The next thing I know, I’m writing something totally different from what I had imagined.

    Take today for instance. I wanted to write a scene where my protagonist, Kelsey Webb, goes to talk to the principal of the high school. She thinks that the teachers and some of the students are mistreating her. Her grades have dropped. People are calling her names. And there’s even been some untoward graffiti in the bathroom. The principal wants to know more details. Kelsey gives them to him.

    The principal gets mad about Kelsey’s treatmeny and calls the superintendent, wanting to know what is going on.

    Now in the last draft of this scene, I had the principal say he was going to meet with the superintendent later this evening, no matter how late the superintendent stayed. The next scene in the novel shows the principal emptying his desk into boxes and putting his paper clips into empty margarine containers. He’s been fired. He’s packing up, exiting his office.

    Today’s version: I didn’t want that much time to lapse in between when the principal fights the superintendent and when he’s fired. So I change things around. The argument happens with Kelsey still in the office. Up until a point. Then the principal sends Kelsey back to class. She’s there for about 10 minutes before the dismissal bell rings. She heads to her father’s truck. When she goes to back out of the parking lot, she sees that the principal has parked his car is directly behind her truck. No, she does not smash into him. The principal talks with Kelsey but doesn’t have much to say.  

    Right now, I’m thinking the version I created today is the best version. The other version had more conflict. This new one has a greater shock. And I think it’s nice foreshadowing for what’s going to happen on Monday, when Kelsey is accused by the superintendent of plagiarism. It’s also nice that the principal is now out of the way in the story before some of the rotten things happen to Kelsey. I’m kind of liking it. I’m glad that it went the way it did.

    I wonder if anybody else has had this experience while revising. I’ve always believed that if you get a better idea, you ,go with it. And it makes sense that, after the idea is knocking around in your brain for a while, you might come up with something better than what you had. Still, do we have any plotters out there who stick to their outline religiously?

    At this point, I have five more chapters to write until I am at the end of the long Act 2. I have two and a half chapters until Ig et to Kelsey’s low point in life. Where she’s expelled from school, forced to move out of her childhood home, and takes a job in the most terrible store in Rivers Bend. I’m looking forward to getting to that store scene. Actually, it’s about four scenes together.

    Part of me does not like what happens to Kelsey in the next couple of scenes. As the Bard says, my gorge rises at it. Physically, Kelsey remains unharmed. But, mentally, I could see where this could bring on depression. Frustration. Disengagement.

    15 more scenes to go until act three. I’m hoping that I can finish up act two by the middle of May. Hang in there with me. I’ll let you know how it’s going.