I am turning to my fellow scribes for some writing help. I am stuck on a novel and need help brainstorming the conclusion.
I have a manuscript which is half done. It was my NaNoWriMo and so I completed this first 50k words with little more for inspiration than a character I like and the borrowed political strife of the English Peasant Revolt of 1381.
Linnette is the daughter of one of Duke Waltham's tenants. While she spends her days (and nights) in the arms of a neighboring nobleman, her father and the Duke have arranged for her to marry a minor noble with a good name and connections to powerful merchants in the city. Rafe is not only distant, he seems downright disinterested in Linnette, but after a few quick exchanges, (and a flat-out rejection from her lover) she goes to the altar with a heavy heart. She is glad to be moving to the city, and leaving a terrible secret behind (that her friend killed a thief called the Black Mask, who turned out to be someone important) , but she soon finds that married life is not at all what she expected it to be. With a husband who is constantly distracted by his work, and comes home in the middle of the night, the feisty young woman tries everything she can to keep hope of happiness alive.
What Linnette doesn't know is that while her husband appears to be just an employee of the chancery, his office, and he are mixed up in something which might decide the fate of the city. As the various factions vie for control of the city (The old church, the new church, the minor nobles and the high-ranking nobles, the crafter's guilds, and the merchants).
Here's the point I've gotten to:
The end was supposed to come to me as I worked, but I'm stuck in the mud. I can't write one more line without knowing where I'm going, and for whatever reason, I have too many ideas to draw a line between them. Does anything stick out as an obvious conclusion? I think I am missing something that should be obvious.
I don't even know what questions to ask myself, because when I sit down to try to write this, I just stare blankly, unable to rein in my ideas. Any help would be useful, I hope I detailed the story enough to get an idea of what has led up to the place I've gotten stuck. Thank you in advance.
I have a manuscript which is half done. It was my NaNoWriMo and so I completed this first 50k words with little more for inspiration than a character I like and the borrowed political strife of the English Peasant Revolt of 1381.
Linnette is the daughter of one of Duke Waltham's tenants. While she spends her days (and nights) in the arms of a neighboring nobleman, her father and the Duke have arranged for her to marry a minor noble with a good name and connections to powerful merchants in the city. Rafe is not only distant, he seems downright disinterested in Linnette, but after a few quick exchanges, (and a flat-out rejection from her lover) she goes to the altar with a heavy heart. She is glad to be moving to the city, and leaving a terrible secret behind (that her friend killed a thief called the Black Mask, who turned out to be someone important) , but she soon finds that married life is not at all what she expected it to be. With a husband who is constantly distracted by his work, and comes home in the middle of the night, the feisty young woman tries everything she can to keep hope of happiness alive.
What Linnette doesn't know is that while her husband appears to be just an employee of the chancery, his office, and he are mixed up in something which might decide the fate of the city. As the various factions vie for control of the city (The old church, the new church, the minor nobles and the high-ranking nobles, the crafter's guilds, and the merchants).
Here's the point I've gotten to:
Linnette breaks into Rafe's study one day after he comes home in the middle of the night and she discovers drops of blood on the floor the next morning. She finds a bloody knife in his desk and accidentally ruins one of her husband's scrolls. She takes the scroll and rushes to copy it before he returns (she has been well educated and has suitable experience to accomplish this). Their relationship hits an all-time low when a prostitute knocks on the door late at night, and Rafe ushers her upstairs only to demand Linnette return to her own room. (He's being informed about the sinister underlying plot). Then he leaves to go deal with an informant who's being tortured.
When he returns, Linnette is leaving, and he stops her. Long scene short, he wakes up in her room and stares at the paintings all over it and realizes she forged the document he's been struggling to decode. He meets with his partner Yvette, and they discuss what can be done (the letter was a hit on Linnette aimed to get Rafe to back off).
And that's as far as I've gotten. I considered having Rafe dress as the Black Mask and carry out an assassination, which would make Linnette all paranoid because only she knows the thief is actually dead. Or I could just have her brought into the organization (since she is qualified to decode the messages).
When he returns, Linnette is leaving, and he stops her. Long scene short, he wakes up in her room and stares at the paintings all over it and realizes she forged the document he's been struggling to decode. He meets with his partner Yvette, and they discuss what can be done (the letter was a hit on Linnette aimed to get Rafe to back off).
And that's as far as I've gotten. I considered having Rafe dress as the Black Mask and carry out an assassination, which would make Linnette all paranoid because only she knows the thief is actually dead. Or I could just have her brought into the organization (since she is qualified to decode the messages).
The end was supposed to come to me as I worked, but I'm stuck in the mud. I can't write one more line without knowing where I'm going, and for whatever reason, I have too many ideas to draw a line between them. Does anything stick out as an obvious conclusion? I think I am missing something that should be obvious.
I don't even know what questions to ask myself, because when I sit down to try to write this, I just stare blankly, unable to rein in my ideas. Any help would be useful, I hope I detailed the story enough to get an idea of what has led up to the place I've gotten stuck. Thank you in advance.