I’ve returned to the pen.

Note:
I don’t do PEN…that is,
unless trouble lurks, folks,
right here in River City,
with a capital T
and that rhymes with P
and that stands for plot.

(Just so you know,
PEN hangs out with NOTE CARDS
in the cabinet marked SOS.)

When writing story
There’s a point in when the plot gets a bit…shall we say…
complicated…
(“Yessir, I’ve planted quite a few tie-ins and plot line hints and overlapping foo…
and now it’s all twisting together…
and I can’t remember what string goes where.
Gah.)
I end up muttering to myself,
“So…where in the world am I, anyhoo?”

The secondary plot trips over the primary plot
(“Hey — watch where you’re going, dude.”)
and the primary plot yells back
(“Dude — you’re the B-story. Back off.”).

And. And. And.

(*sigh)

Get out the pen.
Get out the note cards.
Lay them out. Move them around.
(Oh. And get out the threats.
“Don’t anyone walk in this room!”)

Hey. It works. For me.

When the plot tangles,
find whatever means you can to unravel it.
Quick.
(So you can get back to forward movement.)

* Thup