A flexible middle.

It's strange how different the experience of writing is for each book. You'd think after all the books I've written that it would happen a certain way. That is somewhat true, at least for my work process, but the books themselves seem to roll out differently every time.

"Fairy Punk" is another new experience. By now--65K words in--I usually have an endpoint in mind; how and when the book climaxes. Hell, half the time the book is finished by the time I've reached this word count.

With this book, I don't really have a clear idea where it is going to end.

The reason, I think, is because it is a road trip, a quest. As a result, the story is somewhat episodic. Something happens in one place, and then something else happens in another place. From Oregon to New York I can put as many adventures for my intrepid Iggy and friends as I want to. I mean, there needs to be a limit, but it is definitely flexible.

I'm planning on about 6 to 8 of these adventure chapters, but it could be more depending on how it goes.

What I've done is mapped out each day's travels and then looked for weird places and things along the way that serve the story, and so far, that has been amazingly easy. In fact, I have so many weird options I have to make a choice. America is a big and fascinatingly weird place.

So this flexible middle, where I approach each day and just write an adventure chapter, and then the next, is a new thing.

Funny thing is, I've also constructed a flexible ending. They get to Joseph Tindermaker's workshop, and there are levels and levels going down, and each level can also be an adventure, and how many levels I choose to use will depend on instinct and imagination.

It's fun to do it this way, but a little scary. It's writing without a net. I have a certain amount of faith in my creative energy now that I think I can pull it off.

I just have to take it one day at a time.