One of the amazing things that happens when working on a manuscript is the way a story can eventually begin to expand all on its own. Typically I always begin with an outline, but I never treat an outline as something set in stone. A story has to be given room to grow organically. The reason for that is simple, as you sit and try to plan a story, your mind tends to work on one linear track. There are connections that are hard to see until the characters develop. I find that the plot often takes turns that I hadn't expected, and one event finds a way of leading into other events.
Both manuscripts that I'm currently working on have reached that point. It's exciting when the pieces start to come together in unseen ways. With both, I had been a little unclear about how or where they should end, but that haze seems to be lifting now. In the past, this has been the moment where momentum picks up and takes over. Hopefully that will be the case yet again, though I've learned from years of experience that just as connections can remain hidden, so can roadblocks.
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