An Extra Writing Session

I'm notorious for inserting off-the-cuff wrinkles into my stories that I'll need to smooth out later. Don't get me wrong; I don't do it intentionally. My fingers just tap it out before I know what's happening. I like to think of those unexpected turns as "inspiration", but they're not, really. I don't sit and ponder what to write next, and suddenly yell, "A-ha!" Nope. They spill onto the screen, and I look at them and think, well, that's interesting. 

In my current novel, I have no idea why I gave the main character's mentor a secret. Things were going along just fine; my focus was on the MC, as it should be. Then suddenly a secondary character started bullying her way in. Great; now I had to deal with her. Bear in mind that I had absolutely no idea what her secret was. The obvious trope would be that she had an illegitimate baby when she was young and gave it up...and now that grown child has suddenly entered the picture.

That's why I immediately discarded that idea. Dang, I'm not writing a Days of Our Lives script. 

After I gave her a secret, I went on my merry way, turning my attention back to the main character and to all the adversities that came her way. But you know how Chekhov's Gun works. I brought it into the picture; now something needed to happen with it. 

Finally I found a good way for the secret to unfold, and I dropped it into the manuscript and left it unresolved. That's going to be an issue for me. I have no idea how to resolve it. Thanks, me. 

So, ignoring that problem for the present, it was time for my main character to pack up and move back home. She only had a couple of days left on her apartment lease; thus, time was of the essence. I'd even sort of formulated how her life back in her hometown would play out. But a weird thing happened. She was literally about to climb into her car to leave town, when her long-lost love interest appeared. That wasn't supposed to happen. Sure, they were going to eventually get back together, but not like that. It would take a while. He'd show up while she was working some dead-end job and sweep her off her feet or something. But apparently, he couldn't wait.

Well, that's thrown my so-called plans for a loop. Now she's not going back home after all, and I don't know what the hell to do with her. I guess it's nice that one issue has been resolved, but I've succeeded in creating new ones. I really wanted to get on with things and head towards the story's conclusion. 

Now not only do I have a new mess to deal with, but there's still the matter of the "secret". I do know that everything will need to tie together somehow ~ MC staying in Nashville, the mentor fighting her way through her troubles, the whole music career thing, which will now involve the love interest. And it'll need to be done in a "non-cutesy", non-sentimental way. Honestly, my task would have been easier had he not shown up when he did. 

I'll battle through it. I always do. One might ask, if I've painted myself into a corner, why not just go back and change the manuscript? Well, I enjoy a good challenge. If it all goes to hell, then I can change it. But first, I'll just see where the story goes.