Completed the read-through with notes this morning, and while I have a good main story, this damn thing is gonna take a lot of work.
I can’t blame anyone or anything but myself for this. I had a good line-for-scene outline for Book 2, but when I had a better idea, I made a pure rookie move, and dropped my outline to chase it.
In my own defense, the better idea actually WAS. I’m relieved to prove to myself that, yeah, I DO actually still recognize a better idea when one bites me on the ass and races off laughing like a loon into the shrubbery.
Kicking myself in the seat of the pants, now, though…
Indefensibly, I did not OUTLINE the better idea. I left my existing line-for-scene outline sitting ignored on my Scrivener notecards, and I just leapt in and chased.
So now, all the way to the end of Book 2, I’m looking at a big reorganization, a clean-up re-plot to fix the shit I broke, and before I get too crazy, a quick re-read of Book 3’s first draft, where the back of my mind says some of the less-great choices I made in Book Two that I’m going to be removing got picked up and carried forward a bit.
However, the really big problem in Book Two is that, in chasing the better idea, I dropped a primary thread from the first book and misplaced my most important secondary character for the entire book, and I’m going to have work them into the revision.
Book One was a smooth, beautiful revision.
Book Two’s revision, which follows the just-completed read-through-and-mark-up, is going to be anything but.
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