I set a hefty deadline for myself. I’m not giving up, but I’m not doing well with it. I hope to release book three on or before June 4, 2018. My The initial date I picked was May 27, not because I have a brilliant marketing plan but because that’s the one-year anniversary that book 2 released.
I haven’t written since November and I’ve been working on (staring at, mostly) my outline for the past month. I’m, obviously, way behind on my word count, but I keep thinking that when this outline is nailed I’ll be writing free and fast.
I’ve decided that it’s my antagonist getting me down (and maybe I have too many. I have the big, bad MAIN antagonist, but also his minion(s), plus some of her allies are her minor antagonists too.)
What’s got me roadblocked day after day is What on earth do her antagonists want? I mean, really, really want? What motivates them? What are they going to do about it? I’d thought I was stuck on what obstacles to throw in for my character to keep her from getting from the first 1/3 of the draft (that’s written) to the ending (that I have planned out already), but the true problem was I don’t know why her antagonists are causing her problems in the first place.
I overthink things. I just finished reading the four-book series The Lunar Chronicles and the antagonist’s motivations were pretty simple: she wanted love and admiration and total control. Why did she hate Cinder? She was the one person who could take that all away from her. What did she want to do about her? Get rid of the threat. Eliminate her. Trap her or kill her.
Okay, my major antagonist also wants control and loyalty and I suppose praise and adoration in a way too.
My protagonist then needs to threaten him. What does she have/What is she that she’s a threat to him?
I also decided that the antagonists’ major FEAR is important to figure out. In The Lunar Chronicles, she feared the other characters seeing her for who she really was. I need to know my antagonist’s major fear… and then my protagonist needs to make that happen.
So now that I know what I need to do… I’m going to go do that.
Quickly.
Happy reading and writing!
Much love,
Cecelia ❤
cecelia earl 