Titanic Panic update (June 4, 2019)

I had a goal to write chapter six in two-thousand words. I finished it in only two hours and ended up taking twenty-five hundred words to do it. That makes six chapters in a row that exceeded my planned word count. I am most definitely an outline-oriented writer; I have random bursts of great ideas all the time and too many of them have simply disappeared from my brain because I failed to write them down.

When plotting a book I start with a one-sentence premise, then expand that to a four paragraph summary, then outline the story chapter by chapter, mapping out how long each chapter will take to get a feel for how big the book will be. Usually that means realizing the story is too small and too narrow in scope, so that’s when sub-plots start popping up. Other writers can start with a blank page and a rough idea what they want to write about and…magic happens. Not me.

I’m a servant to my bullet points.

So far, the bullet points for Titanic Panic are very favorable, and the writing is some of the best (in my estimation) I’ve done since the third Kingdom of Arthur book (my current high water mark). This side plot about the Peanut Butter heiress has been a revelation. So many great ideas, opportunities for levity and even suspense are happening that never would have had I not decided to delay getting on the stupid boat until halfway through the story.

I have Fourteen chapters to go.

My sights are set on finishing by early August.