Quick: how to not write yourself into a corner

 
Raeven's comment from previous post: This is one of the reasons I'm so afraid to be publishing as I go. I have the full first draft of my novel, which is really serving as an outline, and I'm more or less live publishing the rewriting. I don't think I've contradicted or cornered myself yet, but the fear is Totally there. 

Okay, so here's kind of how I handle that issue. Basically, you do need to have a larger plot structure in mind, but you use your characters to determine how to get from one place to another. 

Example: Before I hit chapter 6 (I think I was writing chapter 3 or 4), I ran through some issues I was having with my plot with my friend Maureen. She's who I go to to help me get my thoughts in order and she helps point out holes. 

I knew I wanted a confrontation with Aubrey's pack. I needed to introduce them more fully so they had actual impact as antagonists. I was writing the story along the way with the idea in mind that hey, in a few chapters I'm going to have this big confrontation. (Right now, I'm writing chapter 7 with the idea in mind that hey, in chapter 9, I need a big confrontation...so I'm bothering Maureen again soon to help me get my thoughts in order XD.) 

How do I get to a big confrontation? Well, I want Malaya to meet all the other werewolves first. Okay, cool. Aubrey being Aubrey is going back to werewolf basics, so deer on the doorstep it is. Malaya being Malaya doesn't understand why you'd bring her a dead deer. Check that box off. Charlene steps in to stop that shit, because I don't want this to be the big confrontation, and that establishes Charlene's abilities. 

(Side note: I didn't have Charlene's abilities in mind beforehand. I've catered them to what I needed for the plot. Why would she have found Malaya in the first place? She has visions. Why didn't she just like, beat up the wolves in the forest? Her powers are largely intimidating but not harmful. Why aren't the witches in this story more powerful? Because that'd introduce too many places where they could solve the problems. Okay, so Connie is powerful, which led me to...she's getting her power in an asshole manner...she's stealing her power from her werewolves!...there will be consequences...Let things snowball from each other.)

Malaya needs to know where the other wolves are, or else we can't confront them with anything! Okay, so Marisa and Elias decide we're going to track down the spell that's on Malaya that will hopefully lead us to who cast it. Bam, there's the house, so now everyone knows where the other wolves are.

Malaya needs a REASON to want to confront the other wolves. She's got a confrontational streak, but she's also firmly embedded into her comfort zone. Soooo, Vincent needs to be in danger. Vincent gets her out of her comfort zone the most effectively. (Or her parents, but it's harder to steal two people.) Vincent ALSO motivates Elias, and Elias is more impulsive than Malaya. Also, he's still feeling guilty having brought this to her door, so he's going to rush in first, giving her room to get her shit together enough to go save both of them out of frustration with her own inaction. BAM, confrontation lined up effectively. 

So when I say that you need to write from your characters and put them first, that doesn't mean just let them meander around and see what they do. Have a series of key events you're aiming for as you write, and write towards those events based on what the characters would do when confronted with those issues. Make those events spring forth from other actions. (The confrontation in the woods would have happened at the deer episode if Charlene hadn't stopped it, for example.)

If you line up your sequence of events, then your main goal as a writer is find what would make the characters end up organically in those situations. You're at point A, what would your characters do (based on who they are as people, and their combination of relationships) to end up at point B? Do I need to introduce a new character? Do I need an intermediary conflict? Do I need to introduce a whole council of werewolves that forces Elias to go alone? (Because otherwise...you've got Marin for help, and a whole shitload of other werewolves...but that removes the danger.) Writing is just problem solving along a time line. 

I start with a reclusive werewolf filled with anxiety and self-doubt. How do I get her to beat up a pack of five other werewolves? What would get her to befriend her enemy? What would make her face down a powerful witch? 

Quick tip: One trick my writing professor taught us in college was to use blank index cards. Get a cork board or a wall or something and pin/tape them all up with your plot points. ("Person A wakes up. Person A goes to work, Person A gets fired" etc.) Keep it loose, keep it simple, keep it basic. Arrange the cards in the order of the plot, and rearrange as needed, adding and subtracting cards until you come up with a general outline of actions you think will work. As you write your story, a lot of that stuff might go out the window as your characters develop and tell your plans to go to hell, but it's a broad starting point that keeps you from stabbing yourself in the face down the line.