More Writing Work Done

I didn't get much done physically, but got a bunch of outlining and plotting done for my fanfic. I did also sort of clean the kitchen. I at least did the dishes and cleaned off the counters. Also remembered to feed my sourdough starter. I've got one more day of feeding that then I'll be baking bread tomorrow (I think... my recipe is complicated, and I need to check it to make sure I do it right). I just have to decide which kind of soup I want to make with the bread because that's my only reason to go through all of this trouble to make sourdough.

Anyway, I got a bunch of outlining done and came up with a missing set of scenes that set up the ending that is both exciting and a relief. I always have trouble plotting the last act of a story. I have general ideas of how it will end and maybe even the actual ending, but there's never anything concrete like when I plot the first half (after that things get less and less filled in with the last quarter having almost nothing plotted). So this scene sequence will take up at least two or three chapters and move right into the finale.

And my finale is a whopper. I tried to add a bunch of major, emotionally thrilling twists to the story. So the story is about a guy in a post-apocalyptic world (this is a The 100 fic so if you know the show, you'll get it) who finds a toddler alone in the woods as the world is ending (again). He brings the girl back to where they live in this broken down space station that crashed to Earth. She gets very attached to him and is very cute (and sometimes homicidal). The first big reveal and twist is that the girl's father was killed directly by the main character's actions (which happens off screen in a previous season of the show). He's devastated because he's become super attached to the girl but now he knows it's his fault she's an orphan.

Then there's another heart-wrencher at the half-way point when the girl is taken away from him. This one is going to make the fans hate me because they all love the story for him and the little girl. They've been leaving comments all along about how he better not lose her and how he's a good father and deserves her and stuff. Should be interesting when I finally post it. Then the next big twist is finding out that the little girl has special blood that can filter the radiation that is coming to kill them so it could possibly be used to save them all (which is revealed when the girl--who is about two--is slapped by her abusive foster father).

My biggest task is making sure I can keep the tension up in the story after that reveal because now everyone wants a piece of the girl (she's practically a god to certain people and the others want her blood to save themselves). The story ends with the two of them fleeing the safety of the station for the irradiated outside (after he nearly dies and her blood is used to save him, proving it works).

I do have an epilogue planned that takes place years in the future to show that they survived the outside and are happy, but I also promised myself I would write a sequel that I know the fans of the story will want. I had the idea that on the outside, the main character rounds up other kids like the little girl that survived the radiation and are alone and raises them as his own until one gets sick. The only doctor he knows is in the station so they go back for help. But I still need more plot.

So, yeah... I realize none of that is about my chronic illness which is what this journal is about, lol. I'm still not feeling great. Not sure what this burst of creativity and focus is. I'm still waking up exhausted every day, needing a full pot of coffee just to make it to dinner time then just sitting there like a slug after eating because that makes me super sleepy again. Then I usually just sit there staring at my computer or watching Netflix. I haven't watched any TV the last couple days, though. Not sure if that's good or bad. I was in the middle of season one of The Handmaid's Tale which was giving me alternating waves of anxiety and fury because ugh... what a crappy society and then the realization that there are people alive today (in our government) that would love to have some of the aspects of that society. Gross.

Okay, I should probably go do something productive. My goal is to work through the next ten chapters which are written but now need some time shifting because of the new outline.