I am just over 56,000 words through my novel My Own Prince Charming, but unlike the last time I hit this mark in a project, I’m not fighting my way word by word to the end. I have the end. And I like it. I have the first 8 chapters. I like those, too. It’s that whole middle section that’s giving me trouble this time.

The story I’m building is complex and a little creepy and needs a lot of hints, subplots, and foreshadowing. Right now I’m not able to decide what scenes and dialogue are best to get my characters from where they are to where they end up. It’s a struggle writers have to face in every book they’re ever going to write and it’s going to be harder for some stories (and some authors) than others. How do you overcome it? Well, you just have to …. Honestly, I have no clue. Random scenes have popped into my head periodically through the last few months and I’ve written them as they’ve hit, but I haven’t made a significant dent in the progress in quite a while. The worst bit is not really being sure how much more I need. Am I three or four chapters from being done or do I need eight or nine chapters worth of story to really flesh everything out? Hopefully I’ll find some way to figure this all out. If/when I do, I’ll come back and let you know.

Do you have any ideas?