Rules? Eeeh. Sometimes.

Perceval

It's not a week unless there's a new foster. This little dude is Perceval, a silver tabby boy. He's about 5 months old. He's at that stage where his body is bigger than his head. He looks like he was made up out of mismatching cat parts. His adult teeth are coming in, so at the moment, he has a double set of fangs as his baby teeth are still in place. He has yet to be neutered, so we'll be taking care of that soon. 

The other foster cat, Murphy, went to a perfect forever home on Thursday. 

Life is good. But hey! Folks in Florida and surrounding environs. Anyone looking for a sweet, handsome kitten?? Let me hook you up.

Rules.

Yeah, I guess I follow a few. I might even be pedantic about a some of them. Ask anyone who's asked me to critique a manuscript before. I can't claim that certain rules are dumb - they have their uses and their reasons for being. But you know, if the purpose of the written word is to communicate exquisitely - not perfectly, not always precisely - but to convey voice and tone and meaning all in one twist of phrase? Ah, then the rules cannot contain us. We're serving a higher master.

If you read through my post, you'll be able to guess which rule I most enjoy flouting. It's starting a sentence with a conjunction word. And. But. I annoy my editors with it, yet when a book gets published, a couple of them remain. To this day, I see one of my English teachers glowering at me over it. Thing is, in extremity, how many of us think in perfectly grammatical sentences? We don't. At least, *I* don't. Actually, I never do, but that's another rant. I like saving starting sentences with and or but for high frustration moments. It's a bit of character revelation. You know something about a character who rolls her eyes and thinks, "And that's me out of ammo. Fuck." You know something different about another character who shouts, "But you're wrong." at someone. Sure, in a draft I go overboard. Waaaay overboard. I try to dial it back in edits. But yeah. I'll argue that breaking the rules is all kinds of valid so long as it's being plied consciously to achieve a specific effect. Furthering characterization/character voice. Or to convey a specific image or emotion. So. If you want to break the rules, go for it. I'll stand by your decision to do so. 

(The observant among you will also note I have a thing for sentence fragments. It's true. Oh, look. It's Mrs. Briedenbach. Frowning at me again.)

Road Maps for Complex Plots

News: I have a release date for Enemy Within - July 17, 2019. 

I also have a new foster cat. She doesn't have a name yet. She had been dumped at the feral colony a few months ago. She integrated very well with the other cats, so we assumed she was fine, then one day, she showed up limping. We managed to pick her up and run her to the vet. Something bit her - either one of the other cats or a racoon. She's got an infection brewing in there, so she's had antibiotic shots. She'll have oral antibiotics for a few weeks, too. 

She's a sweet girl with a deep love for being brushed. She'll be with me until she's healed up. We'll be looking for a rescue placement for her so she'll have a chance to find a home that won't discard her ever again. 

Complicated plots. That's what we're here for today. You, my friend, have come to the right place. Complicated plots (some might say convoluted) R I. How do I keep it all straight? Pff. Who says I do? 

I absolutely lose track of what the hell I'm doing and have done. But there's almost always a roadmap that I can refer to - not an outline. Character profiles guide my way. Because for me, all plot comes from what the characters need in order to force them into their arcs, all the complications arise from what the characters need, too. I do pretty intense character work, digging into psychology, deep motivation and the bits of my characters' natures that lead them astray.

Any time I lose my way, I return to my character profiles and remember why we all called this party in the first place. From time to time, like the book I just shipped to beta readers, I *really* lose my way and not only do I have to go back to the character maps, I have to redraw those maps entirely while inching my way along the story, trying to figure it out as I go. We'll see what the beta readers have to say about how I did. 

To keep track of specific threads for complex plots, I keep a notebook for each story. Mostly, it's silly notes about DON'T FORGET THE THING! Remember you meant to do x with this event and this character! Stuff like that. It's one of those things - if I write it down, I'll remember it and not need to consult my notes. If I don't write it down, I will only remember that I'd meant to do something cool AND I'd failed to make any useful notes. O_o I do try not to get too het up about continuity until the editing stages. That's really where I get a little OCD about making sure every thread is caught up in the larger weave of story. If they aren't, they either have to be snipped, or woven in and tied. 

It isn't a foolproof process, but it does seem to work for me so far. I hope.