Pike shot across the floor on a rolling chair. “Hey, babe, how goes the stakeout?”
“Fine, thank you.” Alistair sounded rather terse, which for him translated to boiling rage in anyone else. “I’ll keep you updated, Morgan.” The connection cut out.
“He’s mad at me,” Pike said. He sounded resigned. “He’s not telling me why.”
“He wouldn’t tell anyone his head was on fire if he thought it would cause a fuss,” I said. I coughed for what had to be the tenth time since I had sat down at the computer. Something in the air kept bothering my throat. “He’ll say something when he’s ready or when he can’t take it any longer. No point pushing.”
from Incognito: the Vertical Street
Most of the scenes I’ve been doing up to this point have been introductory scenes. They’re meant to have more scenes between them, but I’ve been writing them, for better or worse, like they all happen one after another. This may be a problem when I go to build in those additional scenes because I may not have left myself any room.
Point is, this is the first scene that really jumps forward. I’m assuming some plot turns that have not been written and haring off in the direction I think they’ll point to. The upshot of this is that I’m getting more loose in my writing. I’m letting it take me in unexpected directions. This scene, in particular, had a rather vague plan to it. There was just one thing that needed to happen and I had no idea the context of that change. I ended up getting some good material that I had not planned on. This is what makes building back scenes possible. I’ve set myself up for at least two additional ones, each pointing to a different strand in the plot.
These are the days that make writing worth it. This is where the magic starts to happen, some time after the slow slog of the first half dozen scenes when I’m a slave to my own planning.