Road Map Required

I was ecstatic when I finished chapter five of my WIP last week, especially since it has taken me a good long year to accomplish this.

Onward and forward to chapter six! But wait...after all I've learned about trimming the fat and keeping things succinct and relevant, I realized today that I'm going to need a chapter outline before I can really get into it. Geez. Way to put a halt to the flowing creativity :)

I guess this is where the practical planning side of writing comes in. For instance, I know the basic events that I want to happen in chapter six. I know that I want to keep my word count to 5000-5500 words (or my book will be over 175,000 words long, and no agent will touch it). I also know that because I am writing from two characters' perspectives, I have to know when I will switch perspectives, and how much of the word count each character gets. This chapter will probably be split into an even two (whereas other chapters switched back and forth about four times). See what I'm getting at? I have to know what I want to accomplish, how many words I get to accomplish this, and still make it sound as action-packed as I can.

Last night I wrote the opening scene and it used up almost a thousand words; that's not even getting to the more pertinent information. I guess I really like to write with detail.

So, I'm taking a break to go to the gym, but as my legs are walking on the treadmill, my mind will be whirring, setting up a plan to follow. I would like to finish this chapter today. Ahem, that's a good 4500 words. Better get to it!