Making Discoveries

Just as I was falling asleep last night, a few thoughts came into my head, so I jotted them down quickly. Another character is emerging, from places where I didn't know characters existed. 

See, when I started writing this particular novel, I didn't really have much of anything to go on. The first attempt, exactly one year ago, had been the exact opposite. I felt like I knew my protagonist, where she came from, where she wanted to go. I had it all mapped out in my head, and the process of putting it on paper was so tough, mostly because there were two things that kept popping up. 

a) She was a lot like me, and I didn't really want to write about me.

b) Because I seemed to know a little too much about her right from the get-go, there was no process of discovery. I knew what I had to know, so I wasn't really having much fun. 

This time, I've got a vague idea of who she is, where she's going, and what the point of this book is going to be. But I don't have her pinned down yet. That's part of what's exciting about writing this book. I know how it's going to turn out, but I don't really know what it's going to take to get there. I don't have it all mapped out and laid out for me. So I'm discovering too. That's fun. 

It's really early for me to be making discoveries like this, I suppose. Or maybe not. If there's one thing I've learned about writing is that there are no rules and no time-tables. Everyone figures it out in their own time. 

So I'm beginning to understand the writers who say they like coming to a blank page to discover what's going to happen next because they don't know. I never really understood it.

I get it now.