Evolution of a Novel

---

Episode 1 (December, 2024)

Early Choices and Challenges

There are benefits to beginning a sequel in terms of having an established environment, set of characters, style, and format. In my case, also an in-progress scenario: the unchangeable Y2K deadline. A solid foundation on which to expand an already clear direction.

However, choices made in an earlier novel can restrict creative freedom for what's to come. Such as the obligation to resolve loopholes while avoiding introducing new ones or creating retroactive issues. A lesser concern, but still a concern, is the possibility of becoming bored by an extensive project. Not to the point of wanting to stop, but a fear any feeling of plodding through will be reflected in the end result.

I did contemplate continuing with just the Y2K theme and starting afresh, with a new style and set of characters. But once notes began accumulating beyond the first book, I committed to taking this particular story through to the beginning of the 2000s. That also justified (at least to me) keeping the first novel open-ended, without a compulsion to wrap everything up, thus making its title also describe its function in the series.

Now comes the time to corral the countless sporadic, repetitive, unsorted, and contradictory ideas into a story that integrates with the prior one, but can also be enjoyed standalone.

A particular challenge lies in how the events in Kickoff occurred in just eleven days; whereas the second novel will span eighteen months. Much of the writing of Kickoff came about by going with the flow and a short timeframe kept it from becoming unwieldy. An extended timeline demands more planning before getting too far along.

As I've done for most of my novels, I've created a spreadsheet to capture high level notes. It has one column for each month, potentially each a chapter, with tentative plot notes to incorporate. The bottom is simply a calendar with a cell for each day, and with weekends and special days or milestones highlighted in some way. Its purpose is referential and not every cell needs to be filled; in fact, most will remain empty. It's intentionally blurred right now because it's still in a state of flux. More will be revealed over time.

Point of View

Intertwined with the time concern is the matter of point-of-view. Do I keep the style used in Kickoff in which the POV was shared in ensemble fashion, passing off from one character to another? I prefer this but it might not be feasible for what could become a much larger work.

Some alternatives I'm considering:

• Continue the approach used in Kickoff. This is the most natural but it likely will not work for the longer story duration.
• Go episodic, with time jumps and distinct chapters, each character having a turn or turns. A conventional approach that retains intimacy with each character, but strays from the literary conceit of the series.
• Use single character POV (first or third person), a character on the outside, as in The Great Gatsby. Also a conventional approach, but the characters, which might be acceptable knowing the third book will re-establish the closeness.
• An omniscient narrator who dips in and out of the characters' heads. A method I've rarely used and am not as comfortable with; the least likely choice.
• A new approach or hybrid of those above.

Coming Up

I have determined how to transition from the end of the first novel to the opening of the second and drafted several thousand words. But they could all be scrapped depending on the choices I make, choices I intend to share next time, along with their actual and anticipated impacts.

---

Episode 2 (February, 2025)

A Good Enough Start

In the previous and debut episode, my journey with Develop, the second and middle book in the Critical Path series, posed two pivotal decisions. These were essential to graduate from the planning/outlining stage for the opening sections to start actual writing. My intention is to outline and write concurrently until a full first draft is completed.

The primary decision was committing to a style. I've decided to not veer from the approach I was leaning towards all along: adapting the one used in Kickoff. While a natural choice, this option entails risk because its faster pace might not work so well over a longer span of time (18 months versus 10 days). I'm ready to embrace that challenge.

The second decision was determining how to transition between the novels. Because of the first decision, it makes sense to link the novels seamlessly, carrying on from the last scene of Kickoff. This poses a lesser risk than the first choice as it can be removed during revision without affecting much elsewhere. Its value lies more in getting me up and running.

That's enabled a decent but not great start to the prose writing, about 15,000 words. Albeit first draft words that came about intermittently. I'm finding the action and dialogue aren't flowing as smoothly they did with the first novel. Hesitations are occurring more frequently this time.

I'm used to this; it's an inevitable part of every novel's evolution. In fact, the more novels I write, the better I anticipate issues or loopholes. Which in turn makes me fussier and more deliberate about my first drafts.

Writing Tools

This is a close-up of a part of the blurred Excel spreadsheet shared last time. Its notes were used to write the first three parts of the novel, covering the opening transition from Kickoff, and the first two sections of Develop.

The notes guide me in terms of certain points to include, but what actually gets written can vary substantially. This sheet is tailored for this novel. Those I create for other novels are radically different.

Author-specific software like Scrivener do this and more. However, my writing habits are often at odds with those of the common denominator served by generalized tools. That's why I prefer to customize my tools for each novel. I want my work to influence the tool rather than the other way around. Plus, I find this part of the writing process enjoyable.

Such schematics are useful as anchors to keep from going adrift. They keep me in view of larger themes and objectives and can even inspire and verify the feasibility of other ideas, such as the plotting change below.

Dramatic Irony versus Mystery

Kickoff ends without fully resolving its primary mysteries—the fraud and the murders. I intended to draw out those mysteries to the end of the second novel. However, I've instead determined to resolve those mysteries for the reader much earlier, about a quarter to a third in.

Not unlike the old television series, Columbo where the dramatic irony of the scruffy lieutenant getting to an answer the viewer knows is more interesting than a conventional whodunit. But that doesn't mean new ones won't be introduced.?

Coming Up

Given the timing of the trip to Colorado mentioned above, combined with the novel still in its early stages of development, it makes sense to start again from the beginning and test my approach.

Ideally it'll affirm I'm on the right path. If it reveals otherwise, I'll have something else with which to contend. Doing so will also help re-establish the momentum that'll propel me further into the story.

---

Episode 3 (April, 2025)

Auspicious Restart, But Not So Fast

Last time, I talked about how the writing of Develop was intentionally disrupted early, at a stage where it made sense to start afresh rather than continue on. Part of me dreaded this, expecting a mess of unappealing leftovers to be tossed out. Instead, I was satisfied with what was there. A few adjustments and I was ready to resume, encouraged but wary of being too confident. After all, it was only one section, about five percent in all.

I'm structuring the novel to have each character in what is an ensemble cast take point-of-view (POV) charge of a section at a time. Each section encapsulates three to six weeks of elapsed story time. In other words, 1 Character = 1 Section = ~1 Month for what I estimate will add up to eighteen character-sections linked by a central character, a technique I will delve into next time.

Sure enough, for the second section for Alex, I struggled with a character who in Kickoff was more a funnel for others' actions, less a protagonist. Turning him into something outside his nature without contrivances was not something I was prepared to do. Then again, not doing so could invalidate the structure, and I seriously considered abandoning it.

Writing Cycles

Such radical changes of direction often come with the fresh enthusiasm of a clean slate. Only for a few days to pass, sometimes just a few hours, before I find myself gravitating back to my original intentions.

It's a cycle I've adapted to as part of the process, a test of my endurance rather than my craft. Actual prose may be about talent and taste but storytelling is also about working out troubles without succumbing to the lure of overreaction. The former is necessary to write well, the latter to finish well, or at all.

A Break Leads to a Murder

That break opened my mind to see what in retrospect seems obvious. The second chapter is an ideal point to incorporate a murder I'd been looking to place to stoke the plot and ratchet up the tension. Not only did that become clear, it also became evident who the victim had to be. Another seemingly obvious choice that for some reason had been eluding me. Though not directly connected to the Alex character, this helped me figure out how to proceed with his section.

This resolution opens interesting possibilities for suspicion and tension while at the same time reining in alternatives—too many alternatives can lead to dead-end tangents—regarding the murder victim's role in the story and his impact on the lives of other characters. It also provides a method to corral newer elements before they stray and become entangled with older ones and get out of control to create more loose ends.

Progression Affirms Approach, Reveals Possibility

The next two sections came together fairly rapidly. That made me regard the Alex experience as an exception, that my character-section approach is viable. I'm sure I'll encounter other Alex-type obstacles, but I'm even more sure I'll overcome them.

With four of the expected eighteen sections behind me, nearly a quarter, I've achieved a degree of critical mass to support the conceit of a novel of discrete modules, hanging off a central character. In this way the novel emulates emulating the software product, Cizzl, that lies at the story's core. I'm always keen on whatever can make the structure of my novels correlate to its content.

Adding in the murder will also facilitate and hasten the resolution of outstanding issues from Kickoff, the predecessor to Develop. Particularly how the crimes were committed and by whom. For the reader, however, not necessarily the characters.

I originally envisioned drawing those mysteries out to the end of this novel but that could prove too much effort for too little payoff. Doing so earlier will not only loosen this novel's ties to its predecessor, it will open creative possibilities, including shifting the investigation/mystery angle to one filled with cat-and-mouse/tension.

Measuring Progress

Word count is an unreliable gauge of progress for a first draft. Nonetheless, I admit I casually keep track as I go along, so I may as well share that too.

• Word count previous period: 11,400
• Word count last period: 22,300
• Current word count: 33,700
• Sections completed: 4 of 18

Coming Up

• Character-section vs. chapter; linking technique
• The first significant plotting milestone
• A pause for a critical assessment