Trigger words to write.

Talking my way out loud through Gargoyle Dreams, making notes.

I've got a pretty good idea now of where it's going and how it's going to end.  Most of it came from a short period of thinking on the couch a few days ago.  That's how it happens for me -- in a flash.  But I think the subconscious has been mulling it over for some time. 

But the plot is just the structure... I need to imbue it with meaning, flesh it out.

So I've worked out a rough outline.  What usually happens is that I stray away from the outline the further into the story I go, but at least it's starting point and a direction.

It's looking like it will be a novella, somewhere around 30 to 35K words, which seems just fine to me.

I still want to do some research on cathedrals to give it some accurate atmosphere, but for now I'm concerned with getting the story down.

So this a new working model for me.  Just one relatively short chapter per day, somewhere between 1000 and 1500 words.  I could do more, but I have a feeling that this amount keeps me fresh and keen for the next day.

I'm trying not to force the issue.  Sometimes I get started on something and it goes nowhere.  I've learned to back off, to actually jettison whatever it was I wrote, because it doesn't feel right.

I'm also spending more time in the 'fictional dream' mulling over what the story means and who the people are and what's happening.  Letting the words come to me instead of going and looking for the words.  I'm purposely setting up an hour or two per session to do nothing but mull it over, to get immersed in the world.  

'Mulling' isn't really thinking, it's more just drifting and letting thoughts come to me.

And, as I said, waiting for the trigger words.

Trigger words is that one sentence or phrase that comes to mind full-blown and is the signal that I'm ready to write. Always a mistake for me to write without a trigger word first.

It's a very comfortable way to write, and it gets me to the finish a little slower, but it's time a found a more user friendly method of working.