Are you a plotter or a pantser? I’ve asked this question before, but it bears repeating.
A plotter (of which I am) know the direction of the story. A pantser writes and allows the story to unfold before them. I tried to be a pantser, but it’s not me. I like to know my mile markers when I write, otherwise, the story meanders and gets boring.
That doesn’t mean that I plot out every single moment. I do like my characters and the story to surprise me, but the plot has a goal. Take, for example, The Fairies of Carlow: The Gilding. I knew that Fern would become a Gilded, but I didn’t know about the Gilding event itself. The character and the plot told me she would be engulfed in a cloud of gold glitter and would transform.
That it was before all the students of her school just added to her angst.
Decide how you want to write your story and then follow through. You can’t publish what you haven’t written.
Go for it! Sonja