This week, while I’m between drafts on a book and letting it rest before I do the final proof (so it’ll feel more fresh and I won’t be reading what I expect to be there), I’ve dug out an old book that’s been backburnered for a while. I love the story, but I’ve never been happy with the ending. I’ve gone through about four wildly different versions of an ending and haven’t been satisfied with any of them.

I reread the whole book again, and I think I’ve figured out part of the problem, so I’ve outlined an ending that might work. Now I’m doing something I haven’t tried before that I may end up adding to my regular process. I’m writing summaries of the whole book from the perspective of each of the viewpoint characters. I’m starting with the backstory leading up to the story, then writing the events of the story from their point of view, as well as things they’re doing in scenes that aren’t in the book (like what they’re doing when the story is showing a different character) and their perspective on scenes that are told in another character’s point of view.

This is my way of testing the character arc to see how it flows when I’m not shifting perspective or going to a different part of the action, but it’s giving me ideas for what’s going on with these characters that I can then incorporate into the parts that are in the book. It’s also showing me where things get repetitive, like when a character keeps having similar realizations or when events are nearly the same in different parts of the book.

I think I may try this for my next book, but before I start writing it. This forces me to go into more detail than an outline does, so I can’t get away with handwaving “and then stuff happens,” and it’s a lot easier to rewrite and rewrite a few paragraphs of a summary when it’s not working than it is to rewrite several chapters (or a whole book). There’s still room to discover things along the way and change plans, but I also discover a lot of stuff while I’m doing this kind of work.

I need to write out the parts of my process and what I’ve figured out works for me so I can remember it for the next book.

It’s my favorite kind of writing weather today, cool and rainy, but above freezing. That means most of the snow is finally being washed away. My yard is almost entirely green again, and much of the snow on the north-facing lawns across the street is going. It’s a good day to drink tea and curl up in my chair to scribble in a notebook. I’ve got bread rising to bake this afternoon. Now it’s time to create.