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01/31/2006: "The Plan"
The day before yesterday I took a nap in the afternoon, and when I woke up, I had the essence of my heroine firmly in my head. Sometime during the nap I dreamt a scene that filled in all the murky parts, complete with dialogue and physical actions. I immediately got up and wrote it all down, and then filled in a bunch of other scenes because I understood her transformation.
The experience convinced me (as if I needed convincing) that I need to nap every day. Well, either nap or shower. I've also figured out really big plot or character questions while getting clean.
I'm sure if I ever did vacuum or scrub floors, that I'd get great ideas then, too. The point is, the great aha! moments happen when I'm not at my desk.
This isn't a new thing - I've known about the process for a long time, and yet, I still don't trust it to happen. I still sit at the computer, squeezing my brain for ideas. It never works. Never. Inevitably, I'll move on to something else, or I'll give it up entirely. Then, when I'm doing something else (showering, sleeping) zap, I'll get the drive-by-epiphany.
I still have some holes in the plotting on this book, so I think I should nap and or shower a few times today. I need to finish the plotting so I can start writing already. Maybe I'll do the first chapter. Listen to the characters talk. Yeah, that sounds right. Nap, shower, write some dialogue.
(Do I have a great job, or what? I could never do that if I was say a banker.)
or at the very least forget for a little bit that you need to do them!