For the last week or more I've been having trouble with Crystal and the Stars. A nagging little problem that grew and grew, until I couldn't hardly sleep at night, wondering about it. The story just... got boring. Not horribly boring, but weak, lifeless...
I went to bed at 6AM today, tossed and turned for another couple hours. I knew I had to go back and add things, rewrite things... change things.
Change something.
And I suddenly knew what I needed to change. About midway through what I'd already written I did something that made Abby and Tristan weak and very nearly useless, leaving the war in the hands of the others. That didn't seem so bad in the original version, but now I realize that I need more of the two, not less. And I need to show that they're ready to take on the next challenge at the end of this story, not just move on.
So I've gone back and begun changing things. This is going to take some time. I'm on page 132 of 278. I've added about 500 words so far, even though I keep deleting huge chunks. Something has to go in to fill in the gaps, after all.
It's going to mean a lot of reworking up to the point where I left off. I don't normally work this way... but I don't normally have a book under contract either, so I might as well give it a try this time.
I think it's going to work.
And I better get back to it now. Oh, and the hand and arm are a lot better, though long stretches of typing still makes them go numb. Well, always knew I should get up and move around more often anyway...
No comments:
Post a Comment