Hello all!
I am currently working on one of my many (unfinished) novels, and I’m really struggling to find forward motion. Just the simple stuff like what my character is actually doing chapter-in-and-chapter-out. I’ve got a chapter-by-chapter outline down, but it doesn’t really have “he did this” and “he did that” kind of things in it. The root of this I think has to do with my plot, mainly. The antagonist is the physical embodiment of Time, aka the Clock. And the Clock has set a timer on Avidron (my MC). Av has to figure out what this all means, and then he has to stop it before the time runs out. The problem is that the Clock is all in Avidron’s head. I say “physical embodiment” I really just mean personification. Av is the only one who can speak to it, interact with it, etc. So there’s no need for him to actually GO ANYWHERE or DO ANYTHING necessarily, he can just sit in his living room the whole time if he wants to.
All this to say, I’m looking for some tips on what to include for forward motion (aka the actual action) in my novel. Any advice is helpful!
Have a lovely day 🙂
Hey Galileo. Nice to meet you. That’s a good question.
It sounds to me like you might need to go back to the drawing board with this story. The premise you have might be well and good, but it sounds like you’re in need of additional conflict.
If your MC doesn’t need to leave the living room, then you’ll just be having him do stuff just because. Your readers will pick up on the pointlessness of that.
Have you read The Novel Matrix? It may help you to think through your conflicts to greater depth, to help you put your protagonist in a position where he NEEDS to leave. That will help to propel your reader along for the ride.
Thank you Mr. Pauquette for your advice! This is helpful. In my original first draft, I had a subplot that kind of took over for a few chapters, which is why I scrapped it, but I now know how valuable subplots are.
I have not read The Novel Matrix yet, but I was about to purchase it the other day.
Thanks again,
Galileo