A new level of confusion

Two days short of August and no sign of a job. I know it takes time to collect applications, to go through the resumes and notify candidates--I've been on the other end of that process--but not one of the jobs I applied for even had an expected response time on their websites. Instead it's all "We'll only call you if we're interested." Can I scream now?

On the other hand, Let It Go (the companion book to Without A Voice) hit 29k last week so I must be doing something right. I'm really liking this story, and it's coming together in an odd way.

I'm a pantser, or a discovery writer, or a gardener, or whatever you call that particular style of confusion. I learned a long time ago that I had to write straight through--no writing ahead, no breaks in the timeline that say "fill this in later." I have dozens of potential books that have a beginning and an end--but no middle. If pieces are missing, it's a death-knell for that particular story. I have never in my life been able to write the end of a book and then go back and fill in the gaps.

Strangely, that's the way this book is developing. A hint here, a chapter there, writing the pieces as they come to me. The first time I was resistant, but the scene just pounded in my head and I had to write it down or run screaming into the night. So I wrote it, and then the chapter before it. Then I went back to where I had been, but it just wasn't coming together. I had another important scene pounding in my head, so I wrote that one, which gave me the key I needed for the chapter I was having such a hard time with.

The hard part is that I have two POV characters with alternating chapters, so if I write one I need to write a companion chapter to go with it. Without the intervening chapters, the companion chapter has to be pivotal as well, and without knowing where the story is that's difficult.

But it's coming together. I need to write the initial climax (there are two in this book) and I'm having a hard time figuring out how to handle it. It'll come eventually--I'm satisfied with that--but in the meantime I'm stressing over it because one of the main (secondary) characters has to die. That will be hard. I can't figure out how to get one of the POV characters into the scene. The last thing I want to do in this book is introduce a third POV character.


Without A Voice at Amazon
Without A Voice at BN
Without A Voice at Smashwords