Two years a go the first chapter was written. The chapter was written by the seat of my pants. Doing the same for the second chapter produced nothing even good. After reading books on writing I thought an outline was needed. In a year and a half my dynamic outline squirms like a snake. Once it is straighten out to where the novel goes, a single change along the timeline has the snake tied up in a knots again. Most of the changes happen when a deeper dive into the history of the 1930s reveals a juicy bit. I want it in my novel!

Well, the time has come to put my foot on the tail of the outline and just write. Where to go is known. Why they are going there is somewhat known. I have not a clue the development of characters. Hopefully they will walk on stage when cued. By writing one chapter a month buys me time to keep one step ahead of the publishing date on the first of the month.

The book “Story Engineering” by Larry Brooks helped the most in writing a novel. “Since Yesterday: The 1930s in America” by Frederick Lewis Allen set the stage for what it was like back then. The New York Times newspaper archives starts detailing more of the story.