In pursuit of deliciousness

I’m currently deep in the process of outlining a new novel.

“But Jess!” you say. “Didn’t you just tell us about your not one but two book deals? Don’t you have deadlines for two different books looming in the next few months? And didn’t you just get substantial notes back on a different book from your agent? Do you really want to throw a fourth project into the mix?”

“Listen,” I say. “Mind your business.”

Foolhardy ambition aside, I’ve been thinking a lot about the way I approach plotting. I am very much an outliner, a planner, a plotter (a Methodological Plotter, even). I love story structure and beat sheets. My copy of Save the Cat is well-used.

Because of that, it’s pretty easy for me to come up with a workable, structurally sound plot. Note that this is not the same thing as a good plot. “Workable” and “structurally sound” are not mutually exclusive with “cliché” and “boring.”

In other words, I know how to identify the gaps in my structure, and I know how to identify what kind of scenes should fill them. Like, “I need there to be a scene early in Act 2 where Character A and Character B start to like each other,” or “There needs to be tension between the king and his council here.” But there are a million ways to write either of those scenes, and not all of them are good. Especially when you are writing from the perspective of “this scene needs to go here because the plot demands it,” it’s easy to feel like you’re just going through the motions. Those scenes are hellish to write, and they’re not all that fun to read, either.

In the past, I’ve agonized about finding the right answer to plot questions. Which isn’t a very useful framing, because there isn’t a correct way to write a novel. Every plot, every scene, every sentence could be told in infinite ways. Every novel is merely a series of choices the writer made out of an infinite array of them. To be hung up on finding the “right” one is searching for perfection—or permission—that doesn’t exist.

So with this book, I’ve been trying to reframe my thinking: I’m not looking for the right answer. I’m looking for the most delicious answer. I’m looking for ways to fill in the gaps in my outline that make me rub my grubby little hands together and say “Oh ho ho, I can’t wait to write that.”

Because that enthusiasm translates to the reader. Magestruck was a book I wrote entirely for myself, made solely out of delicious scenes, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it was also the first novel I managed to sell. I am no longer settling for “This scene won’t be fun to write, but the novel needs it.” I’m finding ways to write what the novel needs in a way that excites me.

I think this new book is shaping up to be pretty delicious so far. I can’t wait to write it.

What I’m Reading

Books: I have slowly been working my way through Naomi Novik’s Scholomance trilogy, and The Last Graduate was just as ridiculously good as A Deadly Education—maybe even better, because if I had one quibble about A Deadly Education, it was that the book spent maybe a tad bit too long on describing the various everyday perils of the setting, long after the worldbuilding had been firmly established, and The Last Graduate had more characters and more plot and less time for “Did I tell you about how the vending machines will eat you?” I have a lot of thoughts about El and Orion and how absolutely devastatingly compelling their miserable awkward baby romance is even though the series is very much not a romance-forward one, but I’ll save that until after I read The Golden Enclaves (no spoilers!).

Comics: Since it’s the Summer of Supergirl, it bears reiterating that Sophie Campbell’s Supergirl is one of the best books DC is putting out right now. I have also been really enjoying Supergirl: Survive by Ethan S. Parker and Rod Reis, an Elseworld in which a teenage Kara Zor-El and baby Kal-El are in a rocket together when they escape Krypton’s destruction—but the rocket doesn’t make it to Earth, leaving Kara struggling to keep her baby cousin safe on various hostile planets. There have only been two issues so far, but they’re fun and I’m really enjoying Reis’s art.

What I’m Watching

Speaking of Supergirl…I’ve mentioned before that she is my very favorite superhero, so I was extremely anxious about the new movie, especially since the comic it’s based on wasn’t my favorite. I have now seen the film and I would rate it a solid B! It’s not perfect by any means, but I had a good time, I enjoyed this take on Kara, and Milly Alcock is excellent in the role. Having lived through some real nadirs of Supergirl stories, I will take a B and gladly. (If you want more spoilery thoughts from me, stay tuned for an as-yet-undetermined number of podcasts on the movie!)

It’s forecasted to hit 101 degrees in NYC this week. If you are also in a part of the world suffering a heat wave right now, I hope you stay safe and that things cool down soon.

<3

Jessica