Momentum

There are some scenes that feel like they write themselves.

I've been working on writing an action-heavy sequence for the last few days.  When I started it, all I really knew was that the characters would run in to trouble, but I had no idea what that trouble would be.

Like I mentioned in my last post, I've set a goal of writing two pages per day in order to try to get a first draft written by the end of the year.  Today, without meaning to, I wrote six pages.

I think what happened was I got my characters in to a really tight spot, and every time they were up against a wall, I sort of knew how they'd get out of it, but before I let them get out of it, I threw another barrier in their way.  This kept the writing process very interesting for me -- the problems were never too big for me to solve, so I could keep on writing with momentum on my side. Interestingly, the bigger picture, once I step back from it, seems much more layered, complex and challenging than any of the individual parts.  If I had started out with the bigger picture in mind, I don't think the scene would have flowed out so organically or so quickly.

It's a fun way to write, but I won't know until I really re-read the whole sequence if it's any good.

-Arnon