Remember the rap song, “Jump Around” from the early ’90s? No? Not a rap fan? I’d bet you dollars to donuts you’d know it when you hear it (go ahead! Google it, listen, and then tell me I’m wrong.)
It’s what I’m hearing in my head now, as I get down to the nitty gritty writing of my novel.
My book coach Jennie was pleased with my efforts at the ending. Despite my initial skepticism, I now agree with her approach: writing the end will give me focus throughout–it’s my destination, so now I work on the journey.
“You’re ready to write forward,” Jennie told me. “How would you like to do that?”
Ummm, I’ll, uh, write forward… You know, one scene, one chapter, then the next until I hit the end. Chronologically. It’s how we read, after all. Beginning, middle, end.
Or I could jump around, Jennie suggested. “Try writing the big scenes,” she said. The emotional ones, the significant ones. She felt I have a strong enough outline to keep me on track if I write out of order.
It felt jarring to even consider such an approach. A story is linear; I am linear. Beginning, middle, end. How can I write how Lyra feels about what happened in a previous scene if I haven’t written the previous scene?
But then I realized I had less trouble writing the closing than Chapter 2. Maybe I would like nailing down the climax. Maybe it would be more satisfying to see the conflicts in her relationship with David before I tackle how they hook up. Maybe that will influence how they hook up.
It’s a strange notion, but I’m giving it a shot. I tried it the other way before (many, many times) and I don’t yet see my novel on bookstore shelves, so why not try something different?
Jump around, jump around, jump around.