Saturday 29 December 2012

Plot Changes And Major Editing Shifts

Yesterday I started editing Chapter 6, a part in the book which follows on for four chapters.
And I decided that this part is so totally irrelevant, we might as well not have it; in fact, it would look bad if we did.
In the four chapters, we meet lots of characters, who go no where, help with nothing, don't move the story forward and aren't used again. What is the point in them?
So I cut out four chapters! These chapter took a long time and a lot of mental energy to write. These chapters were the bane of our lives when we were writing them. But it's good that they're gone. It now means that we have stuff from these chapters that we can use in other chapters to flesh them out.
Because I have cut out four chapters, I added in two.

I've written another chapter right at the beginning, starting in Shalo, a county solely of humans (yes, this book contains unhuman people). When reading it, people kept telling me that they wanted to see Shalo more and get to know the main character's Aunt and Uncle more. So I have granted them that wish and a whole chapter is now dedicated to the relationship between her Aunt and Uncle.
The other chapter I've added in is around the middle of this first part. It will be a chapter of surviving in the woods where we (not our heroin) will meet creatures that we would have met in the chapters I just cut out.

I'm going round to my Dad's this weekend to have a good chat with my little brother about all these major changes. I have written out a list of things that will need editing now (and there really isn't much!)...and once that is done...the first part of Homeland will be complete!
Okay, so we may have to do a major edit once it is all complete, but it means that I will be able to move on and focus all my attentions on the second part!
It's exciting!
Oh and did I say I've written the first chapter of the next part?
And my little brother is working on another chapter of the second part...I think it will be the third or maybe even fourth...we haven't really decided yet!

So the book is coming along nicely now. I have been through major ups and downs and I know there are more to come. I thought starting the second part would be like restarting the whole journey - but it's not. We're only just getting into the journey.
M. x

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