A Subtle Difference In the Way I Write Story Notes

I think I've identified which story I'll be writing next, and have begun fleshing out my notes.  This process allows me to see just how much of the narrative I have figured out and areas that need work.  It was in this process, where I'm still working out who wants what, does what, why, and so forth, that I made an interesting discovery:  everything was couched in terms of "perhaps" and "maybe."

To my horror (if only my horror had been more horror-like), I saw that I tend to do that fairly often.  Then I deleted all those possiblies, maybes and perhapses, and you know what?  The planning took on a much stronger feel.  It also made me analyze what I'd come up with to determine whether or not it's any good or if I can do better.  Those "maybes" allow something to sit there on the page, in limbo, neither accepted nor rejected, and so I can never work with the indefinite.  By deleting them and saying, "by golly, this is the way it is," I'm left to either accept it–and build on it–or come up with something better to replace it.

Writing is a humbling endeavor.  Three books written and I'm still learning all sorts of things.

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