Day 78: One Step Closer

I finally figured out how to bridge the last few key story beats of my novel, which was no small task if you've ever written one of these stupid things. Everything seems to gain a lot more momentum by the end, like a giant snowball that's been rolling downhill for hours. At the beginning when something weird happens and diverts the snowball's course, it makes sense because the snowball is still tiny. At the end though, there's the entire story stacked up behind the events going on, and it makes it feel unnatural if the gigantic snowball suddenly makes a 90 degree turn with all that momentum behind it. There's so many unresolved beats, Chekhov's guns, plot holes, and other stuff to round out that I've been really struggling with the last part of the book. No wonder so many novels have awful endings.

I've been procrastinating by writing short stories because I wasn't sure where to have the snowball crash and explode, but now I'm at the last stage, which is to just write the rest of it. I have the end planned out and it should be smooth sailing from here, right up until I have to edit it and lose my sanity in the process. And to think this is only the first part of the story! Agh! I think maybe I can fit the rest into a duology, but that would be pretty difficult. I'd rather avoid a big slump in the middle like I've read in so many trilogies, but I'm not sure if I can pull it off. Hopefully by the end of this one I'll have a better idea of how much more it will take to finish the story, and I can plan my life accordingly. Sometimes it feels like it will never be done, but if I just keep writing it will have to be finished some day, right? Right?!?

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley