Have you ever had an idea that seemed good at the time, then when it came time to execute, you cursed your past self for a fool? Perhaps, it’s just me.
When plotting my current novel, I had several grand designs; let’s have a great portion of it happen on a train, set it in the late 1920’s and include a car race between ghostly and ghastly drivers. It was this last one that got me. I have always wanted to write a race between monsters, and I found a prime way to introduce one to my novel. I had little idea what I was getting myself into.
I decided to have six racers, each with a unique car and distinct driver. At first, I thought I would write the race in verse to give the sequence an epic quality it deserved. However, this would take considerably fewer pages and I have a tendency to write sparse enough as it is. Scratch that idea.
I then commenced to writing the entire thing out as one long chapter. I wrote a short description of each car and driver and kept it handy as I wrote. I also sketched out a map of the road the race was to take. This led me to the different legs of the race and included a distinct obstacle for each to keep things interesting. While writing, I had to juggle the racers and positions and take care to keep track of each. As this is a first draft, I am certain to have made some mistakes ( I caught one during writing), but the flow of the race is intact and should make a great fossil for me to flesh out in the next draft. Hopefully, it will be as thrilling as my original grand design suggested.
The lesson here is to be careful not to bite off more than you can write. Now on to the part of the story where the hunchback, lady and angel evade the mob and the cops with the aid of some carnival crew and gigantic bird…
Brandon Jimison 