I already know I’m getting caught in the same trap. Han Jansz. van Meegeren always makes this mistake. Over and over again. To begin a novel without even a hint of an outline. So I wanted to write Ryker’s Challenge, I even outlined it, for crying out loud, and yet.
On impulse.
I started to write Marlijne’s Diary. No outline. No idea. Just the need the write it. And I know how it will end. I will write 50k or 60k. words. No doubt I will. Until I’m stuck. And I write myself totally into Shibari bondage. With bad luck it might even destroy my Ryker’s challenge outline so significantly, I can throw that into the bin as well.
As we say in Dutch, a donkey does not hit the same stone twice. So WHY? Why would I be so stupid to risk all that, why not take the simple and safe road for once. Or for the psychologists among us: Are you so afraid to finish your first novel and is it more safe to go halfway, quit and start a new project that you abandon halfway as well?
I have managed to convince myself that this occasion holds a distinct significance. This is a diary. So the only thing it needs is a good chronological sequence of events. I use Aeon Timeline to help me with that. It keeps track of how old my characters are at each event that I plot into the timeline. Scrivener and Aeon Timeline are the programs I cannot do without.
Social vacuum
Ryker is the loner, the introvert, maybe even the sigma male. He doesn’t need anyone in his life, he relies on himself and no one else. But Marlijne is different. She is this caring, social woman who wants to help, to teach, and bond with people. She has already lived a full life and yet I had no idea of the social network that she has created over the years. So I started to map her circle of friends out (in Aeon Timeline):
Her friends are friends from school, Neighbours (buurvrouw in Dutch), Former co-workers (teachers) and Club friends. The latter is her friends from the “Am Lusthof” a private BDSM club. She and her late husband were regular visitors and Ilse Stölzer (the owner of the club) is the connection to Ryker’s connection with mother Ilse and daughter Ulla. They write to each other each year during the holiday season a long letter.
Most of her friends are female. There is a logic in that. If you look around in your private life you’ll notice often widows gather a group of of women around them that they can chat with. Seldom men, mostly women. Marlijne is no exception to the rule.