I don’t know what happened. I had a perfectly good outline for the fantasy novel – incomplete, sure – but it was perfectly serviceable one. No one was going to die (yet), and the main character was on her way to learning a trade.

The next thing I know, the main character gets some idea that she doesn’t have to follow along with the plan and makes her escape – literally. The big escape happens with her alone and now she’s wandering a field with little idea where to go, and I’m sitting behind my desk like a schmuck desperately trying to figure out how to get back on track.

An outline is not an opinion…

Does this ever happen to anyone else? Is it just me?

As much as I joke about how my characters are almost living things – this sort of stuff happens to me. I don’t even know why I write outlines when they’re going to get tossed aside like an old newspaper.

Wait — where are you going? I’ve got a very important plot point for you to do! Come back here!

It’s not like I’m against pantsing, but when I do that, I tend to write myself into a whole I can’t get out of. Plotting things gives me the chance to work out problems ahead of time. I’ve got novels I haven’t finished because I can’t think of what happens next. That’s what delayed Tribal. I don’t know how to end it with something that’s satisfactory.

I’m afraid that will happen with this – the big fantasy project that’s going to put me on the map. I don’t want that to happen. I want everything to go as planned. Dammit.

Hopefully, I’ll think of something to get her at least to the village, and from there have her learn the language so I can get over that particular hump. Not how I wanted it solved, but here we are.

Other than that, I am just waiting for April to pitch The Show Must Go On to an agent. I still need to the novel down a bit more and hopefully get some feedback. Anyone interested in being a beta reader? Say so in the comments.

That’s all for now. If you’ll excuse me, I have to get the slave back on track.