Greetings and Salutations, blog readers.

I have never been much of a mapper, when it comes to my storylines. I keep it all in my head with some notebooks dedicated to character development, but keeping much of the storyline fluid in my head.

Do I think when write it down, it becomes a permanent thing?

No…but also I tend to keep something I write as either canon to the story I am telling, or some parallel dimension, as someone who does multi verse, meta writing.

Anyways, for whatever reason, or whatever excuse I offer on any given days rarely map out events. I will mention events that happen in a characters arc, and I will map out those events, but I rarely map out events, preferring to sit down and write freely with loose roadmaps, knowing my characters may way run away with any of my ideas and do something crazy any ways, I just loosely follow and idea and let what happens…happen.

But, in this finale of volume one of Flake City, that is no longer an option. No, now I need to actually be a grown up and write it all down. I have to map out my goals, my end points, my characters, my various moving elements of my story, and figure out how this section will play out before picking up with volume two of Flake City.

I have several characters, many of whom have to live for future story bits, having a degree of plot armor for this section, but also some who have none and will likely die.

I also have massive destruction I need to tackle, knowing that for actions sake, I need to allow for some of the characters safety to be destroyed by the terrifying zombies now running freely in Flake City.

So, I am forced to do something I have never had to do bother with…actual, real, down to earth story mapping.

And the most annoying part is knowing that despite all this work, my fucking characters will likely still run away with my ideas and something totally different will happen, but, as a writer, I do have to plot this out, to at least have an idea of what is going to happen next. Flake City is a lot of work, and I have to wrap this portion up, and then knit some stuff into it, edit and condense some stuff down (Yup, turns out Abbi rambles a bit, and I will likely need to chop entire sections out to not bore many of you to tears). This will all take time, and I can’t afford to not give Flake City more of my time every day…which means planning for it with the same intensity I plan for the blog, vlog, and the rest of my content.

So, I am putting myself to work on Flake City, doing things I rarely do, all in service to getting it done…But let me tell you…it was shocking to do.

Anyways. I need to write a few blogs tomorrow to get ahead on this blog, became Flake City is about to take up several days of my time and effort, so having some blogs prepped would be great.

I do like to post about the writing process, however, so, this seemed a great chance to do mt daily blog update, but also show a bit into the writing process…

Everyone ends up doing the annoying work like brainstorming and story mapping once in a while. It’s okay, it means you are taking it seriously, like anything you map out.

Look at how I map out Thanksgiving or other holiday celebrations, like 4/20 (when not on social distancing orders), I make lists, I make plans, I make timelines, and then, finally, I execute a fantastic day.

To make sure my writing is where I want it, to ensure you all are able to fully enjoy Flake City, I have to make my lists, and map out my plans.

It is fun though, because it is a safe place to map out ideas, suggestions…possibilities.

I like having possibilities to map out, even if they are horrifying things that threaten characters I love. It is a safe space to say “is this how I want to achieve the outcomes I have listed” and I of course, on my mapping, have listed the goals for this finale of volume one.

So, I am off to map some more, and force myself to do the tough work, instead of allowing myself to make excuses “I need to write a long blog” when a short one will get the update done just as easily.

I am having to map out my finale of Flake City for Volume one.

Anyone else have to do things like this for their art? I know it is standard to have to do it, but maybe someone else out there doesn’t do it that often, and understands how foreign it can feel.

And maybe, just maybe, someone out there understands how characters can run away with your goals and road map, leaving you frustrated you spent that time on it…but it is still worth it, so you have a map of where everything is, story line wise, your characters, your goals, etc, for your writing project.

If you have a writing project, by the way…stop procrastinating and get it done…I feel like this is a “truth universally accepted” that most writers are procrastinating on their works in progress, so…if that is you, consider this your nudge to get back to your art.

And thanks for creating it.

Thanks for Reading!

❤️

Abbi