Still juggling four projects, none of which look near getting done. I hate feeling stuck. I hate having ideas I can't put down and try out. Like, I knew how this novel was going to end eighteen months ago, and I still haven't got it down. What's holding it up?
Details on how the characters get from one point that I've thought out, through a plot line that I haven't, to another that I thought out. You might say what I've thought out have been snapshots.
Then as I write and I put things in, I spot interesting or necessary detail. For example, take scene with two characters, Character A, Character B. Character A is connecting phone wires. Character B is holding the flashlight. Character B begins to talk crazy. In outline, that's what I've figured out in the scene.
When I'm writing, however, I can't stop there. What does Character B say that sounds crazy? What does she do as she's talking crazy? What were they talking about before she did?
Along the way, of course, the dialog has to be interesting. It has to sound enough like real speech. So, while you're writing this, Character B lets slip something, something which either suggests a plot hole or is interesting enough to require development three chapters down.
So, even if I outline, I never know how long something is going to take. Every outline is a story without the detail. You add in the details, and you might have a totally different story from what you started with.
That's what I've been contending with.
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