1K Per Day – Building Character(s)

As the second month of my current writing project gets underway this week, I’m nearing the middle of my manuscript where lots of writers always seem to get stuck. I attended a book signing last month for a favorite author of mine, and he even spoke about how he usually has a good place to start and he knows where the book will end. And then he just has the tedious task of filling in the middle.

In the past, I’ve gotten stuck in the middle (with you?) plenty of times. I’ve even jumped ahead and written the ending and then worked by way back. Honestly, I hate doing that. I really like to write a book from start to finish, straight through, but that doesn’t always happen.

However, I haven’t had to skip around just yet on my current project which is attempting to write an 80,000 word first draft in 80 days. I’ve been writing straight through. I haven’t gone back and reread or edited anything either. But this week, I’ve definitely been getting that “stuck” feeling. So, how have I been getting “unstuck?”

I’ve been adding additional characters.

When I first started writing, the story focused on a handful of characters and I really wanted to keep the cast small. However, as the storylines progressed, I realized I needed those characters to go off and interact with others. This enriched the plot just a bit more and gave me other characters/storylines to build upon. More characters = more plot lines = more tension and conflict.

But, I’m not adding more people just for the sake of filling pages. I’m really trying to make them interesting and integral to the plot. Hey, look at the size of the cast of characters in the Game of Thrones book series! There are entire families! As I mentioned in my last blog post, it’s fun to sit down and see which characters show up when you start writing for the day.

Currently, I’m nearing 37,000 words. To date, I should be at 32K to keep up the 1K per day average. I’ve been staying ahead 5 to 6K for two weeks now which feels great. So, if you ever get that mid-manuscript slump, consider adding additional characters to give yourself new storylines to develop.