Endless Replanning

When I finished NaNoWriMo, I knew I needed to rewrite WHITE ECHOES. I had a plan that involved taking a lot of deep breaths, figuring out what I wanted to keep and how I'd replace everything else. I'm doing this, though not quite in order (don't worry, I breathe all the time), and it's taking quite some time.

I feel like I'm going in circles. Everytime I manage to remove and replace an unwanted part of the story, I have this little feeling of satisfaction. I think "Take that, lame part of the plot!" and I smirk at it.

That's when I realise all the changes removing this little bit will have, and how much work I still have to do. Sometimes it has consequences I didn't want, so I have to tweak it again. Sometimes it forces me to give up on some of my favourite scenes.

An example? I've replanned all the way to what would be the First Plot Point now, removing about 8k of story from the current draft. They were important words for one character's development, and I will have to see how being mentally stable and coherent will influence the plot. I know he would notice if his pistol isn't charged, and that is a problem with the current storyline. Now I need to figure out why else he could forget to charge the weapon.

It's a lot of thinking, but as I slowly unravel the knots of my story, I realise it is well worth it. Every time I rework WHITE ECHOES, it becomes smoother and more focused. I have a better idea what I want, and it shows.

So here's to the endless circles of replanning, because they will make my book better. They already are.