Chapter 8, 18k

I spent a lot of time recently going over and over the existing chapters of the second draft, tightening, tweaking, making it sing. I'm really pleased with the results. I feel this second draft, the portion already written, is very solid. It's what I had hoped the first draft would be.

Last night I worked on Chapter 8. I still have a little to add to it, but it's mostly done. After I had stopped work, I felt what I had written was terrible, but later when I read it over, I thought it was actually very good. So, the doubts will creep in, but are not reason to become discouraged. It seems the more I go over this story, the better I know it, and the better I can tell it. I make more connections now between scenes and especially the forces that drive character motivations. This deeper understanding shows up in each scene I write for this second draft.

As there are multiple scenes in most chapters, and the number of chapters and scenes is beginning to grow, I found it useful to update my Master Scene List, a table where I keep track of each scene in each chapter so I can tell at a glance what has happened and what needs to happen next. I compare what I am doing with what I did before, but I am not bound to follow the exact pattern from before. The idea in this second draft is that I am making minor reshuffles, adjusting the flow of scenes to enhance motivation and cause/effect. Also, as I mentioned in a previous posting, I'll be reshuffling one major portion of the story, moving it earlier where it will have a greater effect and set up more potential in other scenes that come later. Still, I need to refer to the Master Scene List from the first draft to remind me of the various scenes I'm working with. Some I can consolidate, some I can shuffle, some I can drop and replace with other ways of getting the story across. Eventually I will put some of my tables online with links for free download. I know I've been promising that for months; I will get to it eventually.

At this point I'll try to keep moving forward. I love tweaking text but enough is enough. There is much more to write to get this draft done, and I'm falling behind schedule, sacrificing speed for more polished results.

Back to work,

Adrian