The Book without End

There are some strange pitfalls for those of us who write by the seat of our pants. And pantsers come in all sorts of varieties. There are those who start out knowing the beginning and end. Those who have specific emotions and adventures they want to tell. Those who do a brief outline, including chapters and chapter headings as hints. So, as you can see, a wide, wide variety of pants are involved.

I fall into the I know the mystery in the book, where I want my characters in the end, what I want to put them through, and, a real plus, I know what they were up to and how they were relating with each other at the end of the preceding book. Since I do not write detective stories, no one walks into my characters’ offices to hire one or the other or calls over the phone (especially since the telephone has just been invented).

Do you know how much I love The Rockford Files? Of course, that may be an enduring affair with James Garner, whom I first saw at the drive-in leaning on a Quonset hut in a movie that I was too young to see. The drive-in showed the kid-friendly movies first, then the adult movies. I never could sleep through the second feature, unlike my older sister, who could zonk out pretty much anywhere. All of which is off topic, but maybe not. When writing the first draft, which is really the world’s longest synopsis/outline, I distract easily. Especially when a new character pops into the tale, or when I find the perfect historical nemesis to worry my hero(ine), like James Garner in that movie, though I think Marlon Brando was the star.

Imagine then, the distractions when you are writing a historical mystery/adventure taking place on a Mississippi riverboat in 1877. So many possibilities for action, adventure, scoundrels and growing passion. Oh, my!

I have the perfect beginning, three riverboat tickets to find a missing person, and two men wooing the same woman (one believing he is in the lead), that being the ending to the preceding book. And what I hope is the perfect ending. Though, to be honest, I am still struggling because the ending as envisioned will cause upheaval in my little town of Wanee, not to mention complicating the rest of the series. Though I admit to being eager to give this particular complication a keen run for years.

I thought I had the tale in hand until I discovered a wonderful, magical, evil, talented man who became the first gang boss in Chicago. One with ties to New Orleans. The whole book went south, which was good since the boat was on its way to New Orleans.  By south, I mean, it was suddenly invigorated in unanticipated ways, which required rewiring some of the plot, then, while seeking adversaries to the boss, another historical discovery added yet more possibilities and whimsy.

Which means the passengers have been meandering toward the ending I wrote months ago. So long ago that the text disappeared from the end of my working draft, where I drape things like that. You know those bits and pieces that fit somewhere. Or, in this case, the destination for the entire book, like Memphis for my Waneean passengers, if they make it that far. I found it in an archived draft from last month, when it suddenly occurred to me that if I didn’t hang the ending off the paragraph I was writing, the book would never end. 

Now, part of the problem is that I enjoy my Waneeans, their characters, and their conniptions, and part of it is that the ending is a conundrum, because of what it means for the series in the future. As for the length, the Cora Countryman books average 84,500 words. The new one? Well, it sits at 90,000, meaning I have some trimming to do. Which, as any pantser knows, is what the second, third, fourth, fifth — draft is all about.

So, Sayonara for now (hint, hint).

Find out more about me at: https://dzchurch.com.