Day 4 of A First Draft in 30 Days

One interesting thing I have found with this method is that it really gives you foundations that you build upon. Normally I rush in full pelt, feeling that getting words on paper is the most important thing. Building them up, 1000 done, 2000 done, first chapter done is hugely rewarding. But, if what you build starts to shake and tumble at chapter 3 or chapter 13 then making it firm and solid again is so difficult. With this method, I find that every now and then there's a sort of lightbulb moment so that something I've already started can be built upon. I'll give you an example. Themes - I never really consciously think of a theme for my book. But with this one, it's started to emerge for me that as my hero is an architect, and architecture is all about planning the perfect building, that theme can run through the book. Each time I think of a new step forward in their relationship, I can think of it like a brick being cemented in a wall, or light coming in through a window, or a door being opened to their personalities. Okay, so that's a bit whacky, maybe a little cheesy, a bit odd and off the wall (well, it certainly is for me as I'm a very straightforward individual, not at all poetic or given to fancies). However, just being in that frame of mind, has given me some sort of theme which I hope to run with throughout the book. Perhaps it will make the finished article more real? Who knows, but it may give me some nice metaphors which are things I always struggle with. It's certainly made me look at my hero in a different light. Who wouldn't fall in love with a man who could build them the most perfect house to live in, a house just with them in mind? I never usually think my characters through this fully so am feeling positive about Day 4, and am realising that this mulling over the story from all angles is part of what Karen S Wiesner's method is all about. Also, that when I tried this method the first time, I fell at the first post because I thought that you had to complete every stage completely before you moved to the next. Silly me. Because if I had read her book properly in the first place I would have acknowledged that she clearly said that some of your worksheets can be half empty, you don't make them perfect the first time you write them down. But you do build on them. So now, off to the dreaded plot sketches, not looking forward to this bit because I think it's going to be difficult, hence my looking for every delaying tactic possible. Oh, and have I had my breakfast yet? Nope. I'll just get that sorted then before I move on to those dreaded plot sketches........