WCC Wednesday

Sometimes I think it is easier to write more than you need, and cut things out, than to write less than you need and have to fill in.  I am currently in the add in stage.  When I finished my latest draft of Sleeping Handsome, I was at about 30,0000 words-- meaning I was at least 15,000 words short for where I need to be.  So, I've been working at developing some of my chapters a bit more with description, and adding some new chapters to flesh out my characters a bit.

Enter this week.  I've been procrastinating on working with Sleeping Handsome thanks to my inner (pessimist) voice.  To be honest, I like to let new scenes play in my head a bit before I commit them to paper (or screen, as it may be), and I allowed myself time for that.  But the other night, I found I was forcing myself to sit down and write.  And the computer just wasn't cutting it.  So, I got in bed, put the headphones on, pulled out the notebook and pen and set to writing.  And the scene came.

And the next morning, my inner pessimist returned to say, "Hey!  You keep adding all this stuff to the beginning, which is cool, 'cause I really like these characters, but your point of no return keeps shifting further and further into the story.  You need to stop and get there sooner.  Why don't you add more to the end?  Or to the middle after the point of no return? Why don't you...."

Well, I'm sure you get the idea.  So, now I am questioning myself.  Do I really need these chapters?  They add quite a lot of depth to the characters, and give you a reason to cheer for the MC and despise the villain, so I think they should be there, but is it OK to move the point of no return moment so far into the story?

Have you had experience with this in your writing?  What did you do?  How far in is too far in for your moment of no return?