The hardest part of my random crappy sci-fi novel hobby project, is going to be the first half of the third act.
The first two acts were very well outlined ahead of time. This story idea has been bouncing around in my head for a long time, and so when it became time to write it, most of it flowed easily.
And the climax of the third act has also been pretty well figured out for just as long.
It's that late-middle part that's still kind of a black box. The first half of the third act. It's not that I have nothing planned there, but rather it's like I have three potential paths to choose from, and various combinations between those paths.
Going to have to put a lot of thought into that section to tie the whole piece together.
Replies (34)
@countbtc on X is sci Fi writer. Maybe collaborate? Just a thought.
whoa didn’t know you were doing this! I always wanted to try. My head is always in the far future anyways.
I wrote two endings and then reread holistically and saw how I slept on each version— choice was really clear. There’s also other subconscious threads I didn’t realize were there that just probabilistically emerged stronger from one vs another only after writing. Just my hobby experience anyway 🤙
Something a screenwriting professor told me a long time ago that I’ve always remembered.
“It’s ok to use coincidence to get your characters into trouble, but never use coincidence to get them out of trouble”
Your first sentence had me laughing out loud! 🤣 A solid sense of humor is really healthy.
you're usually good for good answers:
why isn't nostr big in china?
Good advice.
Absolutely.
Give people three different paths 🤪. This could be interesting.
Yeah I’ve been documenting it here on Nostr for the past month. 75k words in. I don’t know if I’ll get it good enough to publish, but I do plan to finish a full draft.
awesome, can’t wait to read it
I was about to type out advice and then I realized who I was talking to. You’ll figure it out and it’ll be the correct choice.
Sounds like you're doubting yourself.
Don't!
12312313
That’s deep bro. That’s deep.
🤙
Choose your own adventure?
Unrelated, but bravo on Broken Money. Very good
That was my immediate thought too! 😁
You could make it a “choose your own adventure “ 😆
Out of pocket for Hodl here. The onion goes another layer deeper…
an echo of the first act is always a good guidepost
That kinda reminds me of coding - at first it goes really well, you lay out the basics and at still enthusiastic. But as you're approaching first release you start to lose that drive and it gets harder and harder to continue. But then when release is in sight you manage to pull through and hit the finish line.
1
Will there be any reference to freedom tech as the unifying force of the rebel’s fight against the intergalactic imperial hegemony
I’m unabashedly excited for this Lyn!
why not follow all three paths and make it a choose your own adventure
Haha I’m a huge cinephile.
May want to edit this one. Quick read of it causes a double take.
lol
Good luck with it! I’ve had mine bouncing around in my head for about 15 years along with a handful of notes… gotta get it out of my system
Luckily an order of magnitude less complex than GoT!
It depends. Many do outline the plot ahead of time, and I did. For me it’s not the end chapters that are hard but the late-middle.
In music, that late middle part is usually the bridge of a song, at least one that has a somewhat traditional verse-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-chorus structure. It’s usually the part where new chords are introduced and even some dissonance with the mainline melodies laid out in the previous sections. Just made me think of that, for what it’s worth.
Update: I think I've picked the main potential path for the first half of Act 3, which was the least-outlined part between sections I had more firmly mapped out.
I need to flesh it out more, but there's progress here.
And a minor spoiler is that I had a more action path and a more emotional path for this portion, I decided on the emotional path. There's no shortage of action before and after, and this emotion is worth it to flesh out here.
85k words in.
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