Yup, the blog looks different doesn't it? I actually have no sense of how often I change the layout here, but it is definitely not a frequent occurrence. Anyhoo, I got rid of the Monamur (links) section, cleaned-up the Bio and Writing pages, changed the serif fonts to sans-serif (supposed to be easier to read on the computer), and moved stuff around. Partly because I was tired of work, partly because I've lost a wee bit of momentum in EP and was trying to avoid having to think about my problems. But hopefully this progress report will clear my head a bit.
I forget if I've already explained some of the drastic outlining revisions I made, so bear with me while I backtrack a bit and explain some of the overarching decisions I made about the story structure.
Firstly, I've always envisioned the story as one stand-alone novel. Trilogies work for complicated, sweeping epics like Lord of the Rings or Daughter of Smoke and Bone. EP? No way. The thing about trilogies is that if the overall arc has to be split into separate books, then each individual book still needs to maintain its own micro-narrative drive while pushing the overall arc. Say what you want about Bella and her boohoo-ing in New Moon, but for me, there is not enough going on in EP to stretch the drama out without it becoming soap-operatic.
To make sense in my own head, however, I divided the story into three acts. The first act encompasses Charlotte's interviews with the three members and ends with the reunion of Her Highness. The second act marks Rory's first narrative entrance into the story, beginning with HH's victory at Battle of the Bands and ending with the trigger for the third act: Rhys dumping Rory. Meanwhile, in Charlotte's arc, the second act culminates with Charlotte singing out loud during Her Highness' first performance since Rory's death. This scene is pivotal, for a number of reasons: (1) It directly mirrors the critical flashback scene where Charlotte, accompanying Ducky on the piano, performs flawlessly onstage for the first time in her life. Five years later, Charlotte unknowingly returns the favor by stepping in to sing when Rhys is unable to do so. (2) This is the first time Charlotte ever sings aloud in public. However, it's a tainted victory because she does so while masked---hence, she hasn't truly conquered her demons because she's still "playing" the role of Aurora Maciel. Which brings me to... (3) By this point, Charlotte is aware of her feelings towards Rhys but realizes she cannot compete with or ever replace Rory. Tying back to point 2, although she's successfully "become" Rory, Charlotte's growth is still incomplete until she learns how to derive the confidence from herself--essentially, to sing without the mask and expose her own face.
Whew. Okay, and then the third act is predominantly focused on Rory's downward spiral, while Charlotte comes to terms with all of her past failures with her mother, Ducky, and whatnot. Is it possible to fit all of these things into one novel? That was the goal.
Anyways. So yesterday, I finished Chapter 9 (Patrick's interview) and started writing Chapter 10 (Rhys's interview), which means I'm almost done with Act I. However, I decided randomly to enter the word counts of the chapters so far into an Excel sheet and counted the totals. Well, I flipped out when I realized that with the word-count rate I'm going at, the grand total will very likely exceed 100k. Which isn't exactly unheard of in YA, but it's exceedingly rare in YA Contemporary, which usually clocks in at around 60k. And I mean, it's expected in revisions that you'd cut out everything unnecessary and keep only what's necessary. But the very thought of having to go through and slice and slice and slice and slice like Prince Philip hacking through the hedges to get to Sleeping Beauty's castle makes me want to weep.
Okay, which is admittedly jumping the gun a bit here, because I still have two-thirds left to write.
Bah. Just keep slogging, just keep slogging, just keep slogging slogging slogging....
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