1/3

I'm only about a third of the way done with my next novel Thunderbird. Looks like it'll take me like at least 14 months to finish, which is way longer than anything I've written since my first real attempt at writing something. I have good reasons for this, but it still makes me feel a little hollow. I've been storming other ideas and outlining/dabbling in my fantasy novel to keep my mind fresh, and I've taken on a new year's resolution to read much more than I have been to re-charge the batteries so to speak.

It's the first time that I've let a character drive the plot in a way that changes it significantly as I'm writing, or more lets her populate plot points in the overall narrative that I'm only determining a few steps ahead of time. Meaning I create the character's motivation and perspective and find out what plot point can be used to turn it towards the end of the story. Which is another thing I'm doing for the first time: not really knowing the end very well. I have a vague picture of a cabin and a bird, a storm and a hospital bed, but I don't know if my character finds what she's looking for, and if she does, how that expresses itself thematically.