Only time will tell if the details and directions added overwhelm the story - but for now I celebrate that it seems rich, and alive, and fully formed.
Thank God. 1year and 4 months later.
I used my subplots to rebuild my book - what had to happen and where, ideally in the most dramatic order. I saw chapters which I could merge, steal from and kill off, events which travelled earlier and later. In Week One alone (it's set over a month) 12 Chapters reduced to 7).
Next is the monstrous Chapter Map - my skeleton. This involves some serious data mining.
My notes are everywhere; Trello (a great mind mapping tool), old word docs, track changes of current drafts, my phone, post its.
When I'm finished with this task, each scene will look something like this:
I've tried to master the art of the 3 Act structure, which guides you on where to place drama, road forks etc but I'm only loosely in line with it (A.K.A I don't completely understand how to do it).
The 'Ref', instantly reminds me of the gist.
'Sig' for 'Significance' which marks which subplots are involved and cross over. 'Obj' for 'Objects', apparently (acc to Robert Ray, a story without objects is rubbish (repeated objects become symbols like Cinderella and her glass slipper).
A summary, and the location of the scene, and finally my mess of thoughts.
The volume of notes seems pretty indicative of the re-work involved, so it looks like CHP1 and I are going to be spending a lot of time together.
Having all of this info in one place allows me to do something incredibly valuable - planting. I am planting all over the shop. For example I've changed the time of year to just after Christmas. Why? Because it's cold, miserable, the lowest point - a perfect backdrop for a dark tale.
Little things like the Christmas trees I'll pick to stand in my characters' homes, will (in theory) speak volumes to the reader, their wealth, their personalities (the faithful show don't tell).
There are small plants; my protagonist is now a swimmer. She lane swims, early and often, to battle stress, to avoid people, to help keep her secrets quiet. So I push this in here and there, scenes where her hair is wet, where her boyfriend remarks that she always smells like chlorine, her towel drying on the radiator, boiling over when she can't find the time.
Routines make people.
Some chapters have few notes so far:
Unsurprisingly 'Ted Intro' includes no subplots, out of a possible 6, inferring that there's no story here. It may contain a rather pretty depiction of the coast (if I do say so myself) but in its current form, it slows the story. This forces me to choose; is it a waiting platform, desperate to help a subplot or two on their merry way, or is it destined for the scrapheap.
CH23 will certainly require some thought:
So, if I manage to continue to crack on (and don't lose my mind in the process) my third draft of 'Dollis' will be ready by the end of June, and nervously passed over to a select group of readers.
Roll on June.
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