Sprint to the Finish

I just finished writing the sprawling middle bit of This is Not a Game, the current novel.

The middle bits are always the problem. When I start a book I always know the beginning, and I always know the end. Getting from one to the other is sometimes easy, and sometimes it’s like getting from the British side of the Somme to the German side of the Somme in April of 1916. Intact. Without a tank. With your 80 pounds of gear. And all your friends.

I generally know many of the “beats” in the middle part, but somehow it doesn’t seem to help. The plot points keep accumulating in that aggravating way they do.

That’s the problem with writing character-driven fiction. You keep finding new ways and new places to illuminate character. Sometimes I wish I was just a hardware guy. “Build your zap gun. Then zap. The end.”

This is Not a Game has been fun to write despite the inevitable mid-book sprawl. Another piece of good news is that the narrative has sprawled, as it were, in the direction of the climax. The more stuff I deal with in the middle, the shorter the finish will be. I only have two chapters left to go.

My deadline is April Fool’s Day. Can I finish my two chapters in time?

Any bets? Either way?