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@morreafirebird

Hello! First of all, bravo on writing such a big book! *Applause* That’s a victory in and of itself. And you’re on the third draft already, that’s an even bigger victory!

I’m in the middle of a fantasy trilogy, nearing the end of book two. Book 2 is ending up quite hefty, it’s probably going to pass the 100k mark.

I had a lot of trouble outlining it. I dislike outlining but I don’t write well without a plan. I had a very similar situation to what you have now, a planned first half and midpoint, then a big space of nothing, and an ending.

Here’s how I solved that problem:

I did start drafting, mostly because I couldn’t stand to wait any longer and I had a second protagonist to get acquainted with.

I plotted out both character arcs and figured out what I needed for them to get to the third act. That already gave me a pretty good guide.

I jotted down a handful of scenes I might want to include and where they’d fit in more or less.

And for the rest, I gave it plenty of time and kept drafting. The drafting process led me to a very interesting character dynamic. I got more and more ideas for scenes I wanted with them and wrote all of those down for the second act.

By the time I wrote the midpoint, I had most of the second act planned. I figured out the in-between scenes as I drafted them. I can pants on a chapter level, just not on a book level 🙂

So, in short, write a bad outline XD Or write a bad section to an outline. It’ll give you some traction and you can change it as you get more ideas and know your characters even better.

I ended up changing all of the scenes in the second half, even though the general plot stayed much the same.

Give yourself time and grace, focus on the character arcs more than the plot, and write down every idea you have.

This is only what has worked for me in the past, and my novel was nowhere near as big. I wish you the best of success, I’m sure your book will be amazing! <3