I swear, I could kick myself some days.
Plot holes remain abundant in my latest WIP despite me going back several times to “fix” them. It’s quite frustrating, as I haven’t had that bad of a problem with it before. I suspect I’m trying too hard to push the story forward, to the point where I’m making stupid, sloppy mistakes in the plot. Go back, fix Chapter X. Go back again, fix Chapter Z. Go back again, fix Chapter Infinity. Ugh.
Sometimes I have to kind of remind myself to take my time with the story and figure out where it’s going. The characters don’t always tell me exactly what’s happening, so I have to use my brain to sort things and make them fit. Tie this thing in here, streamline that there, etc. Characters don’t have time for that kind of thing. They’ve got important things to get through. Survival takes precedence for them over anything else. It’s up to me to take care of the rest of it.
It’s hard to slow down. Despite not even being done with book one, I for some reason feel a kind of pressure to finish the first draft on book two. It’s weird. I mean, why be so worried about this one when the other needs to be fine-tuned first?
Guess I’ve got to prioritize. Wait for the latest beta/critique/edit to come back on the first book, then tweak that one until it’s bright and shiny and new … and then tweak some more. Let book two simmer on the back burner for a while and wait out the creative process until it starts processing again. Letting my frustrations take over won’t do me any good, and neither will forcing the story out when it’s not solidified in my head yet.
I have no idea how some authors can churn out multiple books in just a short year. Even though I have a general idea of what’s going to happen in the future of this series, I would never be able to produce that much quality product in that brief span of time. Maybe one book a year–maybe.
Then again, I’m probably putting the cart before the horse or something. I mean, if book one’s not published, books two and three and however-many-they-end-up-being won’t be published either.
Maybe it’s time to give this book a nap before I put the first draft to bed.
AJ Mullican, Author 