It’s not a shocker. \u00a0It’s not that unexpected. \u00a0But he pointed out that fretting about character details (like what village someone comes from) and names and all that is, yes, important, but it’s also way too far down in the weeds. \u00a0He also thought I’m in the weeds and not taking a step back to look at the bigger picture\u00a0because\u00a0<\/em>I haven’t plotted out what the bigger picture is. \u00a0That is, I know what has to happen, but only to a \u00a0certain point. \u00a0Once all the characters are\u00a0in<\/em> that spot…well, I don’t know what happens next and have only a vague idea of the end (and that’s mutable, too).<\/p>\n What he said was, really, it’s one thing to think\u00a0tactically. \u00a0It’s quite another to think strategically.<\/p>\n And I was, like, wuh?<\/p>\n But you know, he’s right. \u00a0People confuse the two all the time. \u00a0I sure did\/have been.<\/p>\n Look, tactics are what they sound like: they’re what you employ to achieve a goal.<\/p>\n Strategy, though . . . now you’re talking big picture. \u00a0What’s the objective? \u00a0What are your goals? \u00a0What’s the campaign you’re waging?<\/p>\n If you know strategy–that is, you’ve defined goals (say, all your characters have to end up in a certain place and then get out of it)–that’s when you start moving around pieces to achieve those goals. \u00a0For me, I’ve been very focused on WHO the people are and not enough on HOW they get to a certain point and then what happens to them once they’re there so they get out of it. \u00a0I’ve not defined my campaign.<\/p>\n So the husband was right. \u00a0Doesn’t mean I wasn’t pissed off, though.<\/p>\n But he’s right: take a step back, have some patience, finish the OUTLINE so you have the PLOT\/CAMPAIGN STRATEGY (because I really do know the characters pretty well even if I haven’t got names and nitty-gritty details for two of them), and then that will dictate the tactics you use to go forward with actually writing the thing. \u00a0(Not that the writing went badly this week; it went quite well–but also because the husband was out of town for part of the week, which gives me a lot more freedom to not worry about things like getting dinner ready at a certain time. \u00a0I didn’t\u00a0sleep\u00a0<\/em>all that well, but I slept enough. \u00a0I miss that lump in the bed.)<\/p>\n I hate it when he’s right.<\/p>\n Also lost two days to prepping for a get-together (never again and never so elaborately) and then fretting.<\/p>\n One bright spot:\u00a0Scary Out There<\/em>, a lovely anthology of YA horror edited by Jonathan Maberry and in which I’ve got a story has gotten its first reviews (and they are good).<\/p>\n
![\"Scary](\"http:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Scary-Out-There-jpeg.jpg\")
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