I never really ascribed to 'timelines', per se, but I always set a goal to have a new chapter up in 2-3 weeks. Sometimes it takes a month if I hit a block or if my chapter's even longer than usual (which would be saying a lot.) Occasionally, if I'm really struggling, I'll make a bullet point outline for what I want to happen in my chapter - include certain scenes, certain events within the scene, and even certain lines of description or dialogue that pop up in my head that I really want to use. A lot of times, though, I sort of freestyle it, although I have a vague idea of what I want to do with a chapter before I actually do it.
How to avoid dead ends? Do you mean writers' block or just getting to a certain point on a story and not feeling like doing it anymore?
If it's the first, then I don't know of any hard and fast way to get rid of writer's block because, like the common cold, it's never exactly the same any time you get it - just the same systems. And just like a cold, sometimes you can knock it out of you, but other times, you just have to wait for it to pass. I know the 'roadmap' idea I just described helps me on occasion. Or, if you've divided your chapter into 'scenes' and just don't know what to do with one scene, try writing another scene and see if you get any further on that one.
If it's a problem with being able to commit to a story to the end, I tend to come up with my endings first. Or at least an ending or two. But have some sort of destination in mind before you start the journey. Otherwise, you're just going aimlessly and sooner or later you're going to be sitting on the side of the highway, unable to move anywhere because you've run out of gas.
Make sense?
Take it from someone who has written
a lot. My last story was 80 chapters. That's not an exaggeration, either. 80 chapters. And while it was fun most of the time, you'd be nuts to think that it wasn't a grind at some points, too - especially since I did nearly the entirety of the fic while I was in college. Needless to say, the need to pass classes and the like put extra demands on not just my time, but my mental reserves. But I stuck to my guns and got through it. And I can tell you from experience that there are few things more rewarding than working three or four - or even one or two - years on a chaptered project and seeing it get stickied in the 'Completed Fics' section.
- ;196; EM1