Always expect the unexpected (#SFWApro)

I fully expected to finish Southern Discomforts by the end of October. And it’s been moving very well, so if it were running where I expected—about 30,000 to 35,000 words—I might make it (bit of squeeze next week, but doable).
Instead, it’s at 26,000 words and I’m only halfway through my plot outline. So maybe it’s going to be a lot longer.
Or maybe not. Earlier this week, I was barely through the first quarter of the plot, now I’m about half there because some of the scenes turned out more insignificant than expected (and a couple just moved up earlier in the story). So who knows?
Part of the reason it’s running long is that I’ve added a lot more for the characters to do. The FBI agents were little more than marplots in the previous draft. Now they actually have their own goals and activities (could my protagonist, a former bomber with the radical left, be linked to this mysterious murder-by-bomb they’re investigating?).
It’s possible I’m also just having too many talky scenes, but they don’t feel like that. The discussions are fairly personal and sometimes intense, and hopefully not too info-dumpy (but that’s always fixable).
So maybe the rest of the novel will continue to expand and I’ll end up with maybe 50,000 words or so. Which is an awkward length, but there are things I can do to expand it. Some characters simply vanished from the plot, so maybe I can give them more to do. There’s period detail to add, and the fight scenes can be bulked up without being overdone (one thing about my Monster Earth work is that it’s been really good for improving my action scenes). So maybe I can make at least a small novel out of it.
But I’m certain I won’t have it finished come Oct. 31. At this point I’m planning to make it my primary project for November too.
Speaking of Monster Earth, I got an email back on my submission of Fox and the Hedgehog for Vol. II, and they loved it. A lot. That’s always good to hear. Full thanks go to my beta readers, because they really made it shape up.
I have all my interviews done for the Boys’ Life story I mentioned last week. And I have a new assignment from the Raleigh Public Record, on food deserts in Raleigh.
A good week, I think.