17/12/2020 - The Benefits of Talking Things Out

I’m plugging away at the current book. I’m 20,000 words in and should have Act 1 wrapped up sometime within the next 5,000 words or so. What I’m finding challenging is - this book has so many moving parts. There are six different groups of people, all of whom are stuck in the same situation, all of whome want different things (well, some want a McGuffin but they all want it for different reasons), and it’s… it’s just a lot.

I got stuck on one tiny plot event and I couldn’t see my way past it… so I talked to my wife about it.

My wife and I used to write together - comedy sketches at university and then a few full scripts in our first years of adult life, which didn’t go anywhere. She’s also extremely clever - certainly more inteligent than me in several areas. As a result, working through plot problems with her usually leads to good results. This also works with editors, and I think it’s something specific about talking.

The editor who I walked away from earlier this year, the one who point blank refused to explain her reasoning for making certain recommendations, also refused to do skype conversations to go over points. She has mental health problems so, sure, but it meant that past a certain point I couldn’t really understand what she wanted me to do. There’s something very specific about the back and forth of:

Them: I want you to do this.

You: But if I do that, then this happens.

Them: Ah. Okay, but we need THIS because the story is currently lacking element X

You: Could we get element X from solution A, B or C?

Them: Solutions A and B sound like they’d cause more trouble than it’d be worth, but let’s have a chat about C, because you might be onto something there…

You can get this same effect from email, but it’s much harder because you have to really hope that you’re focussing on the right things. It’s also really easy for one person to get the wrong end of the stick. Talking: writers might not like it, but it really helps.