Howdy all. How’s it going?

I suppose this can be the new feature of my blog: A Wild Plot Draws Near. I think I’ll try it out as a sounding board for my current problems with my story. And by sounding board, I mean “Talk to myself.”

Here’s my story’s current problem. I’ll refer to characters as generic as possible. Just because I say wizard doesn’t mean it’s like, Gandalf or anything. Just generic terms.

So, I’m almost to the big conflict of my story, and I realize that it’s not going to work. My two groups of characters are about to meet and duke it out. Then the main group will go take care of the monster.

But then what? How do I subdue the second group while the first group goes after them? The first group can’t split up realistically. I can’t let the newbie guard four people, as he’s got some investment to the other group and they could probably trick him. The wizard (more or less a wizard) can’t guard them, as he’s the only one capable of taking down the monster solo. The monster would definitely eat the newbie. And that’s not a good idea, as I plan on having him around for a good while. As for the third person, well, she’s still one person. She could probably take care of one or the other, but not with a decent success rate.

So, why not leave them outside and tied up? Well, that’s tricky. Leaving four conscious people that are probably capable of escaping and ambushing you is also a bad idea.

Why not kill Group B? Well, not a real option, honestly. Group B is over half of the characters in the majority of this book. Just… no.

So how the hell do I take care of this problem?

There’s another problem that needs help, too. At the rate I’m going, my story won’t clock in at 50K. So at the current pace, the story will fall flat soon.

Two problems. Can I kill it with one shot?

I think so.

Group B sends in one member to investigate Monster Lair. Groups Collide. Group A wins fight. Group B’s scout comes back. Monster’s missing. Signs of a struggle. Monster… abducted?

Now I’ve added, essentially, a third act. Do the groups combine to chase down the monster? And who abducts a monster, anyway? Do they have ties with the main group, or just a coincidence?

SHADOWY MYSTERY ABOUNDS! DUN DUN DUUUUNNNN!!!

We’ll see how it goes from here, but I think it can work.

So, does this give too much of the plot away? Is this the type of stuff I should save as notes and annotations? Or is this vague enough to not spoil anything?