Breaking Out

My brain had been in a bit of a fog with my father in the hospital suffering with pneumonia made far more tricky to deal with by late stage Alzheimer's disease. Still when you have deadlines you push forward. The good news is, one the pneumonia has responded to the antibiotics and two, I figured out who the murder(s) are in my next story The Sapphire Sirens.

It's funny this is a case where when I started I was quite certain who the victim was, who the killer(s) was /were and what everybody's motives were. The thing is once you start plotting, really plotting the story I realized the killers and the motives weren't good enough. Each of the characters had taken on a life (or death) of their own. What I originally thought they would do and how they would justify it no longer made sense in this world I had built for them. Problem was I still knew who the victim was but I needed a new killer and it wasn't clear as all six of my suspects had motives and potential reasons.

I love my computer I could not write without it, but there are times when my brain needs to free associate when the computer gets in the way. This was one of those times. I for some reason couldn't just type down each of the characters names and motivations and methods to figure out who was going to be the killer. I tried but it was too organized. Too neat and clean to inspire me. Therefore I went back to my tried and true old pencil paper and doodles. I scribbled down each of the subjects names, their likes their dislikes there goals. I started with the easy immediate ones. Then I kept adding and adding. The messier the paper became the clearer the motives became in my mind. After an hour or so I knew who the killer(s) was / were, how he / she / it / they did what and why.

Now of course I have to figure out how Zach does it but if I can do it he can.

The goal is to be totally outlined by the end of the month and then to get cracking with the writing.

One thing for certain I am glad I outline so intensely before I write as it makes changes in course a lot easier to deal with.