Stuttering

Obligatory vacation picture.

So vacation was a much needed break from regular life. I was super happy to get home though. I think everyone knows that feeling. I jumped right back into the rewrites the night I got home. It felt like I was so far behind!

An interesting thing about being away from the actual writing for a while is I had time to think about the story; the character interaction, the scenes, the plot, the intricacies. It helps to let everything dance and mesh around in my head for awhile because I came back with a solid plan to fix some of the things I thought were wrong.

Like Chapter 1.

I realized this one vacation night while I was tossing and turning in my unfamiliar hotel bed. The story line of chapter 1 isn't wrong and I was VERY happy with everything I had written which is what made the decision to do a rewrite so hard. The idea had been gnawing on me for a while actually. I tried to avoid it but the eventuality of it finally settled in and I accepted it's fate.

The problem was simple. Chapter 1 was written from Ali's eyes when it needed to be from Joss's.

Since I've been back, I've been furiously correcting this and I'm almost caught back up just after a couple days. Rewriting a scene from a different POV wasn't actually that hard and I found it to be a good exercise. It's been fun drawing sharp lines between the different ways Ali and Joss see, feel and interact with the world around them. It's just another learning experience in my writing journey.

Now, the interesting news I promised. Hopefully everyone will find this exciting.

I can't bring myself to trash Ali's chapter. I know I can't put it in the book, it no longer has a place there, but I can't let it go. I will continue to edit it, and will post it on the website as a prelude to the release of After - Part Two. 

Perhaps that will smooth over those that weren't such a fan of the cliffhanger ending of Part One. My daughter falls in that group. She texted me as soon as she was done reading and was quite unhappy with me, to which I cackled with glee. My goal was to make the reader feel for the characters and leave them wanting more. Mission accomplished, at least where she was concerned.

However, if I didn't get this part quite correct, I apologize. I will make a solid attempt in the future to avoid leaving my precious characters in dire straights. Sometimes the story does what the story wills, though. I'm just the goofball with the pen in my hand.