I’ve been working my way towards the denouement of my novel, Radwinter, and I had it mapped out in my head… the main character on his genealogical quest would fit the missing pieces into the jigsaw, or so he thought, decisions would be made, difficulties resolved, new ventures heaved over the horizon and then bam! the final secret revealed on the last page.
I was working my way through various scenes, paragraph by paragraph, one of which involved my main character Thomas visiting his brother Paul… and suddenly, unexpectedly, I had the perfect ending… but wait! The ending couldn’t happen yet, there was another scene to be fitted in! The final exciting twist had not been revealed… oh my goodness, how to do this? Should I ignore the perfect ending and add another couple of scenes? Should I take the missing scene and insert it into the story a little further back… Cripes! What to do!
I’m used to my novels taking their own path ‘writing themselves’ suggested a NaNoWriMo friend (National Novel Writing Month) I’m used to characters coming on in a supporting rôle and taking over the story, I’m used to people getting lost and finding themselves somewhere completely different, with someone unexpected… I’m even used to ditching beginnings and rewriting with new inspiration… but for a story to end unexpectedly, in a different way than I had anticipated… hmmm, what to do now?!
Lois Elsden 