Sunday, August 18, 2002
Yesterday I did 1,085 words on Chapter Thirteen. The final chapter is insisting on unplanned scenes, which only goes to prove what I keep telling everyone (especially editors), that outlines and synopses (especially "detailed" ones) are bullshit. If a novel sticks faithfully to a predetermined point-by-point outline, the author's not trying very hard. Art must be skillful, and skill requires planning, but art must also retain some element of the unpredictable, if it is to be true and reflect anything about human behavior and the natural world. Each event, each character action, can send a story reeling into territory I never would have anticipated ahead of time. All that said, being this close to the end and having so many unanticipated twists and turns is, nonetheless, annoying. Today I'll be finishing up the second unanticipated scene in a row.
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