Patience . . .

Have been reading about trolls tonight, and wondering how it all fits together. So far I feel I have amorphous scenes and half-sketched (be honest, quarter-sketched) characters, and nothing yet clear to me that makes it all hang together.

This is something I'm still getting the hang of, identifying the "tipping point" when you can begin writing. I knew I had enough for the first scene, so I wrote that. After I've talked with Inga and asked some basic questions (tell me about Solveig's educational background. How long would it take from the time the architecture firm gets the bid and the ice palace is built? Describe what a firm's open house party/bash for winning a big bid might be.) I could maybe write the next several scenes after that: Jack and Solveig meet as the firm announces they've won the Ice Palace bid.

But after that, I have to know what's going on. You can write opening stuff for so long, and then you have to stop and figure stuff out. Then you can (hopefully) start writing steadily because you know you're going somewhere.

I still need connective tissue.

( Questions: )

Frankly, this waiting around/trying to figure things out is a little scary. It's hard, after four years of block, to have faith that my back brain is going to somehow cough up an answer/structure that will make everything fit together. So I try not to panic and instead to sidle up to the problem sideways by peering out of the corner of my eye at it instead of tackling it head on. And I am doing my best to prime the pump by reading stuff that the backbrain can use to tie it together (i.e., this Norse folklore book, and the Winter Carnival book when it arrives). And I sketch little scenes while I wait for the connections to appear . . . except nothing was written on those tonight. Just thinking.

(Don'tpanicdon'tpanicdon'tpanicdon'tpanic)

( Possible future scene )

Hmm. . .