Yesterday I went through 80 manuscript pages, marked them all up, moved things around, and got it ready for novel section 3.
Today, I spent my lunch break breaking section 3 down into scenes and putting them in chronological order. I worked up a revised outline for section 3.1 and 3.3, and began the write-up for 3.2 on the train ride home.
3.2 is otherwise known as “the training montage” and I have resisted working on it the entire 8something years that this novel has been a thing. That’s because I have to give myself the authority to make executive decisions regarding the book’s mythology, and allow myself to roll with it. This is a scary thing to do. But after breaking THAT down into a 4 step, tangible process for my MC (I love lists okay), I think I’m ready.
The end result, I hope, is that people will read it and go “WTF why did this person figure all of this stuff out and write it down? who does this???”
and I’ll nod and go “ikr?”
HOPEFULLY, in the end, they will laugh and say that it’s ridiculous but it was a fun ride. Because I’ll be honest, it’s way over the top but I am excited and that’s probably the best thing I can hope for this far along into the project.
(I sometimes think about going back to the first novel I wrote and revising, but my eyes kind of just glaze over…)
Tomorrow, I start the retyping/revising/gap-filling process. This is the turning point section. Once it’s done, the book is more than half-way finished. The set up to the climax, the climax, and the denouement will be all that’s left.
Of course, I know that I have about 50 pages in section 4 that are just going to be straight up thrown in the trash, but shh let’s not think about that for now.