Eureka!

I think I've hit on something that works! I've been trying to figure out how to better prepare myself for writing. Usually, I just go in cold and write, but I get stuck easily and often.

I tried the notecard approach during NaNo, and that helped, but it didn't seem as flexible. I kept steering characters back into place. I was going to try it again, but when I sat down to make notecards I could only think of conflicts and ways to mess with my MC's life. I was also very curious about the details that got her to where she is when the story starts.

I decided to do conflict cards and start writing with the back story. When I get to a stuck point I'll pull a conflict card at random to act as a writing prompt. The back story gives me something to work with, but I won't have to edit it! Woohoo!

So far today I've done three pages. That's more than I've done in a while, and I forgot how good it feels to immerse myself in a story.

I hope this works as well as I think it's going to.