This will be a quick post, since I need to go to bed (and get some reading in first!). But considering that my attempts at writing today have only eliminated words, perhaps it’s best if I keep it short!
The novel restructuring went well, in the sense that I now have a clear plan of where I’m going and how I’m going to get there. I dropped some elements of the narrative style, added in a perspective I’d been hoping to avoid, but now have determined that at least for the rough draft, I like it, so I’m keeping it.
Was going to restructure a whole new document to keep this draft and the last one clear of each other, but in going back through the last draft to salvage what I could, I realized how much in love with it I am, so I’m just retrofitting that draft to be the new one. That meant a lot of cutting out scenes that don’t fit with the new-ish driving plot, and inserting scenes that haven’t existed before. I’ve gotten as far as putting in labels under the chapter/section headings like this: [[PUT IN A SCENE WHERE SO-AND-SO DOES SOMETHING IMPORTANT]]. Obviously, I don’t put so-and-so, or “something important” because for once I actually know WHAT the characters are supposed to be doing, which is a nice change.
So minus 5589 words from the original draft, which is a hard hit out of 11k, but I’ve got the structure settled and everything’s straightened out and ready for me to get cracking at it. Clearly, considering how LONG it took me (I started at 7:45PM today) to figure this stuff out, it was a necessary step, even if it didn’t add any new words.
Still bummed about it though. My new word-count goal of 500+ a weekday is flailing miserably. I need to get back on the horse and remind myself of what I’m supposed to be doing here! >:-(
Maggie Slater 