Oh God.

Turns out I was wrong in my last post. I wasn't past the midpoint in my fic; I am now, and the slump is a BAD ONE. Also I passed the midpoint at ~17k words, which means the fic will not be a reasonable ~20k, but more a very UNREASONABLE 35k to 40k. WHY.

I wish I were better at outlining. My structure/ pacing usually works once my fic is done, but I cannot outline for the life of me. If I try, I will inevitably veer off the outline on plot point one at the very latest. And then I end up writing whatever feels right, until I hit the midpoint, and then I flail and cringe and force myself to keep writing, until I hit plot point two. I know I will eventually, and then it'll get easier again, but it's so hard to get through that middle part. Especially when you don't know if you're on the right track. I don't know what plot point two is going to be, so I don't know a) if I'm writing the right thing to get there, and b) how much I have left to write until I hit it. It's so exhausting.

Of course, this would be made easier if I knew what my second plot point were, and what needs to happen between it and the midpoint. It doesn't seem like it should be that hard to figure out, but for some reason, my brain just goes blank if I try to plot it out. It's as if part of me is convinced that I can't know until I've written everything leading up to it. This makes no sense, brain. Stop being difficult.

How does it work for you guys? Do you outline? Do you then stick to your outline/ abandon it? Do you just write whatever feels right? Do you have to fix a lot of pacing in your editing?

Inquiring minds want to know.