I always want things to happen too soon

Do you even know what I mean by that? Of course you do. You're a writer. You've experienced the extremes of writerness, where your mind isn't your mind anymore, but a deranged entity held captive by your characters and story.

(For the scribes, it was the repetition that led to madness. Thousands of copies of the Canterbury Tales. In Middle English. Think about it.)

Why do I want things to happen too soon? Mainly, it's because I'm totally in love with my characters. And instead of being a grownup about things, I start shipping them with each other (if I'm working on a romantic arc), or I really want this badass moment to happen, because it's finally time that So'n'So gets her vengeance on Whatshername because shit got real awhile ago and they need to hash that out. 

My grandmother always says that part of emotional maturity is putting what is right ahead of personal gratification. For instance, you may really want a chocolate chip cookie. But you have a cavity and that sugar is going to crawl into that little tooth hole and make you scream if you eat it. The mature thing to do would be to put the cookie on hold, get your tooth fixed, and indulge later.

But it's haarrrrd. Especially when it comes to the fictional worlds we create in our minds. I really just want So'n'So to tell Jerkface how she really feels. And that urge leads me to try to rush to that part of the story. 

And that's not right. Especially when there are things--important things--that need to happen in between. Like, you can't just start your story with So'n'So meeting Jerkface and then all the sudden jump to her calling him out. No, there has to be a reason she calls him out for starters, and maybe some other things building up to that moment. And the anticipation is part of the fun, right? Or, at least it is when we're reading.

But for some reason, when writing, I just want to get to THAT part. I think I've become a fangirl for my own work. Like, I am shipping my characters way harder than Ten x Rose or Eleven x Clara or Petyr x Sansa. (Yes, that last one was a creepyship. Get over it.) 

And I don't think it's wrong to do that, as a writer. As a writer, I think it's important to have these juicy, sweet, spicy scenes in mind, letting them ferment and develop in your head. It makes them that much richer when you actually do write them.

I'm not always a writer who writes chronologically. For someone who doesn't really care about writing chronologically, it really doesn't matter. You could write the ending last, for all you care, and I suppose many do. But, I have to say, the majority of my stuff is written chronologically and that's how I get into this predicament. 

So, I've hit a compromise: I map out the gloriously delicious scene with index cards or bullet points--whatever. And then I go back to writing everything else in the order as I planned. (More on planning later.)

And there you have the my temptation: I always want to skip ahead. And doing so can hurt your writing--especially when the in-between bits actually matter, as they so often do. 

So, what about you? Have you ever had a problem with this? What do you do to remedy it? Or do you even try? Let me know what you think in the comments.