Well, after the quickest cleaning blitz ever, my house is respectable for the week. My ironing pile has been dealt with expediently - by just shoving all the clothes away unironed. I have stocked up on chocolate raisins (vaguely healthy!) and bought piles of index cards, a box of paperclips and a stapler. I am ready to test my story structure.....
So what have I done today with my book? Well, I've written out a pile of 50 cards with events, characters and things like "establish Dr B's character". I've assembled them into order and now I'm working my way through them, to ensure I've got each bit in place. Reworking of chapter 5....again.....
I also have a timeline of index cards stapled together and stuck up on my kitchen wall for a quick reference. It has such delights as "5pm: Esme makes her way to LGH; Esme loses her handbag on the bus", "10pm: Esme moved to MAU; Dr B still trying to find Esme's records; Esme wanders into Maternity Unit; Marge's story; Esme's panic attack; Esme moved back to A&E (conflict between Dr B, Alex & Julie); Why is Dr B so interested?; Why did Esme have a panic attack?"
A lot happens between 10 and 11 that night!
I think the idea of writing events on cards is a good one, but I also think I'm too far into this story for it to be as helpful as I'd initially thought. I already have the timeline fixed in my head; I know the logical steps that must be worked through to get Esme from 4pm Friday to Noon Saturday. Hopefully the process will help more on my next book.....once I get this one finished that is!
Now - this afternoon's task is to eat some of those lovely chocolate raisins, watch a film to refresh my batteries, and then start again on the re-writes later. I find 3-6pm is the best time for me to get some serious writing done.
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