It always happens. The story which has developed quite nicely and almost magically, hits a hard stall around Chapter 8. There is a plot afoot of which Tracy knows next to nothing, but she has clues. Now it's time for me to do the back story. I need to figure out what that plot is, how the clues fit into it, and what motivates those involved.
This seems a bit backwards, even to me. I know other writers who would positively cringe at my lack of planning. Yet, somehow it seems to work out. Creating the background of the current action can be an entertaining exercise by itself, although its intricacies most likely will never see print. I just need to know what it is, and the more fully I can develop it for myself, the more solid it will sound even when summarized.
I also still need to work out the climactic moment. What happens? Who saves whom? Who's the bad guy and who's the good guy? (Although I don't like to go with cliches on heroes and villains because everybody is some of each.) Some of these questions will get answered in the process of building the back story. I've already brought together characters from the first two Tracy Wiley books which should foster a good, acrimonious showdown, but that's as far as I've gotten.
So the pencil and scratch pad come out to chart relationships and figure timelines. I've already started a text document where I write a summary of events. And it's also time to let my imagination take flight and create images of scenes. Some I might use, and I will most definitely discard some. The important ingredient to the creative recipe, though, is to not try to control it or make it perfectly fit the story. I want images and emotions and something that gives me a chill up my spine. That's when I'll say, "Ooooh, that's good," and then I'll be unstuck.
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