Macramé

That's my new writing term.

So when you've got an A plot and a B plot (for a full-length novel, at least that, and probably a C and D as well) they mostly run on parallel tracks. It allows, among other things, for you to provide that action-reaction; when a major turn has happened in the A plot, we switch to the B plot to allow the reader to digest what has just happened before we throw the next A plot event at them.

Those threads cross, and depending on how on-the-nose you want to plot things, they may end up in a crisis or revelation point at the same time in some bring-together scene.

And of course you have the other threads; character arcs, world-building tasks, development of theme. All of those are also running, more or less parallel, and when possible with their big developments staggered so the reader can pay attention to the personal crisis or the unveiling of the Big Bad or the new information about a side character in (relative) isolation.

And then there are the macramé scenes. Those are the scenes when multiple threads converge and connect. Those can be the most satisfying when you finally get them to work. But that "finally" in there? Yeah, that's the problem. These scenes can also be a total pain.

Yeah, that's where the book is now.

I'm throwing out all of my old calendar marks. One year since starting, one year since the previous book...all of that is gone now. But...the story is set in April, and maybe, just maybe, I can have it finished by then.