Mary Catelli's Erraticly Updated and Exceedingly Ill-Organized Journal

Once yesterday's love interest introduced herself, her part of the story fell together. So I could consider the important part of the story, where the hero has to carry out the impossible tasks.

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Had a short story. Thought of expanding it into a short story cycle. Especially since the first story set up an obvious end point.

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I think there are going to be subplots.

I know that one villainess likes intrigue, and another likes handing magical tutoring to foolish young folk and seeing what they do (after they pay her).  There will be characters who try to exploit this.  There will be at least one for whom it backfired very badly, and the results are significant in the main plot.

Bit hard to see how to festoon them about the main tale evolving in the outline.  Perhaps I shall just let them grow in the first draft, where I usually learn of them. 

All stories need outlines because otherwise they peter out in the middle. (sometimes they peter out in the outline, which is less frustrating.)

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Off building the first draft on the outline.

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Am I going to NaNoWriMo this year?

Yes, I have to think about it now because if the outline's not done, I'm not doing it. (The year I rushed the outline was dreadful enough.)
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With heroic effort, I remind myself that even if I know that the baby born at a stage in the story is going to marry one of the other babies (or children, there are a number of boys not so old that it would be unreasonable in a fairy tale), it's obviously not going to happen in the denouement.

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It's a good thing I remember that this is a cycle -- by dint of  reminding myself often -- because the outline for the fourth story is different from the others.

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Plugging along on my D&D outline, knowing there are two potential sequels springing from issues not resolved in this book. . . .

Trying to ignore them.
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I may have to fall back and outline this story from a higher level. . .

Some locations that are problems that they know about -- a central locations that is the real problem, and which they learn about --

How many of the first do they have to visit? When do they make their discoveries? Who opposes their not checking them all if they conclude they have enough information to cut to the second? Given that they have been sent by authorities -- and they have used that authorization freely -- other characters can seriously crimp their planning.

Would a high level outline help -- higher than scene by scene? I would have to continue the scene by scene to make sure there's a story, but the structure on this one may need some help. sigh