Good morning, cyberspace, and welcome to a brand new series we are starting here on the blog! Behind The Scenes–an in-depth tell-all about the books I’m writing, stories I’m sharing, and overall writerly things I’m doing! When I started blogging eight years ago (holy guacamole. i cannot believe it’s been that long now!), my MO was writing. Writing Craft. Writing Tips. The Overall Writing Life. My love for writing is the one thing I’m 100% certain of that God placed into my life for a reason. And being able to share my journey to publication–or whatever else may come–is not just a way of holding myself accountable to chasing my dreams, but a blessing for future Kenzie to look back on someday!
Through Behind The Scenes, I hope to share all of my writing adventures with you! The good. The bad. The sometimes ugly. And today is the perfect day to start! Why? Because we are going all the way back to the beginning with my current WIP–The Curse Of The Goblin King.
BEHIND THE SCENES, EP. 01
BACK TO THE BEGINNING w/ THE CURSE OF THE GOBLIN KING
If you’ve been following any of my blogs (Smudged Thoughts, Featherwick Press, etc.) for a while before coming here, you might know about some of my WIPs! My current project, The Curse Of The Goblin King, is a quirky little MG about a not-so-sane man whose imaginary friends decide to steal his next-door neighbor.
It’s a wild book, folks. I’m very excited about it.
Unfortunately, though I’ve tried writing this book time and time again, none of the drafts I’ve written thus far seem… right. The flavor, you might say, isn’t flavoring correctly. The vibes are off.
The book sucks.
A few failed attempts, one lonely scream into the abyss, and a couple writing dates with my friends later, and I realized that perhaps it isn’t the book that sucks. Perhaps it is the unthinkable instead…
THE THING ABOUT OUTLINING
I was never an outliner. It’s not my thing. At all. You’re essentially asking me to spoil the ending of the book before I actually write the book, and that, my friend, is a huge no-no. I like the surprise. The excitement. The confusion of writing yourself into a corner and the thrill of finding the perfect loophole to get yourself out again…
…
Yeah, okay, there’s some definite flaws in my plans, but whatever.
So I was writing with my friend, and she decided that to get a better grasp on her book, she was going to write an outline. And then I read her outline. And then I thought about how she no longer had that awesome feeling of “what the heck do I write next” whenever she sat down to write. (you know, the one where it’s a stare-down between you and that tiny little blinking cursor, and you slowly find yourself filled with the existential dread that you will lose once again…) And then I realized that maybe… just maybe… my previous plan was a little bit flawed…
Enter me writing myself into yet another corner with The Curse Of The Goblin King, and I was sold; I was going to write an outline. And better than that–I was going to rip my goblin book all the way back to the beginning, and start with the actual root of the problem.
Me.
THE THING ABOUT ME
I think everyone reaches a point in their journey when they realize that they are the thing holding themselves back–I have officially reached this point.
See, I’m a starter of things. I start things–books, podcasts, blog posts–easily. But it’s in the actual finishing of them where I struggle. And I’ve come to the conclusion that perhaps it’s because I don’t know where it’s going. Writing a whole book is all fun and games until you get 3/4’s of the way through and don’t know where to take it. An outline, on the other hand, is much smaller. It’s more manageable. You can spend an hour on it and then rewrite it the next day without feeling as though you’ve wasted the past 3 months writing something that’s never going to go anywhere. This, however, also comes with its pros and cons:
Pro - you can write and rewrite your story from the ground up in a shorter span of time, thereby eliminating the kinks and plot holes you'd naturally run across during the drafting phase.
Con - you can get caught in the constant, never-ending cycle of writing and rewriting your outline.
This leads me to the crux of my situation: whether or not I outline a book, I’m not actually going to finish it. That has to come from determination, persistence, and consistency. (all of which do not come easily for those with ADHD.) These are the secret ingredients for book writing–not if you know enough about the craft or are popular on instagram. What matters is that, at the end of the day, you’re just insane enough to get up and keep trying.
AM I INSANE ENOUGH?
Short answer: yes.
Slightly longer yet still short answer: I’m still here, aren’t I?
I think if I can get through three (three? has it really been three blogs?) over the course of eight years and a never-ending carousel of the same four books written over and over throughout the course of my entire life… I think it’s possible that I’m just enough insane to make this thing a reality. Of course, one might argue that this shows a strange juxtaposition between consistency and non-commitment, but I digress.
The fact remains that whether or not my ADHD brain likes it, I am determined to write things. I’m also determined to finish things. And the first thing I’m determined to finish is the outline for The Curse Of The Goblin King.
I’ve been working on the outline for a while now (much longer than I care to admit). But I am nearing the end and oh-so excited to get to the actual drafting portion of this book… again… for the fifteenth time… (look, I know I’ve got issues, okay?)
Of course, after I finish this outline, it’s back to the drawing board for a couple other books I’m planning on writing, but that’s a problem for another day. Right now, it’s one word as a time until the finish-line.
Daydreaming can wait for tomorrow!
TALK TO ME, PEASANTS!
Let’s talk shop! What’s the biggest thing you struggle with when it comes to writing? For me, it’s definitely consistency. It’s the one thing I just can’t seem to nail down yet!
Mackenzie K. Writes 
Talk To Me, Peasants!