Is there such a thing as an unstructured novel? There is now.
At last I got some real writing time yesterday, and I'm happy to report that I haven't lost my touch. My writing flowed naturally; a shock since I've been away so long.
It occurs to me, though, that Second Chance is maybe not unstructured, per se, but a deviation from the norm. The best way to describe it is as a river's flow disrupted by log jams. The river is Leah's life journey, but those damn log jams trip her up at regular intervals.
There isn't one log jam (or inciting incident) she needs to overcome; there are a bunch of them. I always think "saga", although that word conjures up a multi-generational or at least several-year story, while mine encompasses perhaps a year in time all together, with its main emphasis covering approximately six months. However, one definition of saga the Oxford Dictionary cites is "a long, involved story, account, or series of incidents". There you go! That's my novel!
Leah doesn't have one big obstacle in her path, unless it's her indecisiveness. That's not the most scintillating theme. It wouldn't make for a good elevator pitch. "It's about a woman who's indecisive."
No, Second Chance (title still tentative) is a series of vignettes. She has a lot of experiences. They all come together to form the whole, yes, and to drive her to finally make a decision; but will my style work? SPOILER ALERT: It'll work for me. I like it.
One guideline I'm firm on is that every scene needs to count. I won't write filler for filler's sake or to boost my word count. When I consider the next scene, I ask myself if it will contribute to the story. If my idea doesn't contribute to the story, how can I make sure it does?
This novel doesn't time jump. There's no "two months later..." It's chronological. This style is new to me and deliberate. Who knew that I would enjoy it? My point is that in the course of the main character's day, for example, she'll have breakfast with her old friend, then she'll make a phone call, then she goes to work. Each of those three scenes need to convey something. That's what I worked on yesterday.
My main quandary was depicting her work shift. All the drama of that had already taken place the previous night ~ she'd had to face an estranged friend, she inexplicably threw a tantrum and almost got herself fired ~ so if I was going to detail her second night, something had to happen. My "planning" is almost non-existent. I have vague ideas sometimes, but I never commit to them. If I can work them in naturally, great. My vague idea was that her former band would at some point during the night call her up to the stage (background, if you haven't been following along: she's working a temp job as a bar server to earn money to get back to Nashville; the same bar where she used to perform with the band.)
I had to have this happen incidentally, and I did. She's taking a complicated drink order and hears her old bandmate, as background noise, really, saying something into the mic. She isn't exactly straining to hear what he's saying. Singers babble stuff all the time. One of the guys at her table asks her why everyone is pointing at her. That's when she realizes her former bandmate has invited her onto the stage. After the previous night's debacle, she's terrified of losing her job. She glances back toward the bar to see the owner nodding and holding up one finger. "One song -- only", he's signaling.
Then a lot of things happen that I won't detail. But the main takeaway from the scene is, someone forces her hand and essentially directs her to get back to Nashville.
Without diagramming it ahead of time, I managed to advance the plot. This is what I love about writing. The only thing that was supposed to happen was that she would sing one song. As it turned out, the scene actually wove together both that morning's breakfast and her phone call.
Where next? My "vague idea" is that she's in her car, ready to hit the road. Her old friend is fussing over her, asking her if she's got her phone charger and all that. But, oops ~ her old flame still hasn't made an appearance. This will be the last scene I'll have to resolve that relationship. Stupidly, I had inserted a throwaway line in which he'd written her a letter and left it in the hotel's mail slot (months before, after she'd already left town). The only reason she tore the letter open was that she was hoping it would contain a check for her uncollected wages, which would allow her to get out of town. When she realized who the letter was from, she stuck it back in the envelope, unread except for the first sentence: "I was wrong."
Hmmm, I never got back to that letter. She still hasn't read it. Now, on the one hand, she didn't care enough to read it, but wouldn't she at least be curious? After all, she'd only left for Nashville because her heart was broken after spying him moving into a house with another woman. Doesn't he have some "splainin'" to do?
So, he has to show up. This chapter has to be settled. I'm thinking I have a way for him to appear. It's a big hurdle to get over and it has to be done right.
But at least I now know where I'm heading.
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