Yesterday I talked about sketching maps of “what’s happening” in a geographic sense with the story and constantly checking and rechecking timelines.

Constantly checking and rechecking is a bit of a theme, however, because one of the hazards of a big manuscript and a large cast of characters is that you run the risk of repeating yourself. AKA the moment when you think, “Haven’t I read this before?”

Examples of this can include having your fight scenes unfold and/or resolve in a certain way, or an adept using the same magical jiggery-pokery to resolve an issue. Partly this is driven by practical constraints. For example, given a certain range (era) of armor and weapons, there will be limitations on the possible/plausible means of injury and death, putting one together with the other. Similarly, the limitations built into a magic system may also push the protagonist in certain directions, problem resolution-wise.

As the author, however, my job is to check over those scenes and details to try and ensure that both I and my characters aren’t doing the same thing multiple times—unless, of course, the story I’m telling turns out to be a version of groundhog day, in which case it’s game on for repetition.