Chapter one is taking on a new shape. I’ve been pulling it apart, rearranging the narrative, deleting, deleting, deleting and writing new words. The beginning is no longer the beginning. Re-reading the last draft with feedback in hand I can now see where the story starts. It’s not at the beginning but soon after it. The start of the story within the novel is an awakening, or ‘the call to adventure’ as it is written the hero’s journey story formula.
It’s not so much a call in the case of my story, it’s more a motivating force in a new direction because of things beyond the protagonist’s control.
So the journey begins.
Changing the sequence of events for the start of the story in chapter one has created a flashback of sorts to establish the beginning, or perhaps more precisely, ‘the known world’. These changes have opened up the story to let the reader in rather than sitting on the sidelines of a once-upon-a-time type scenario.
At least this is what I’m doing my best to craft with words on a page.
The process for this has been to work my way through chapter one cutting and pasting to rework the narrative into the order needed to facilitate the new story-line. Along the way I have written in new parts to flesh out the story where it is needed, and I’ve colour highlighted areas that I think are still questionable, or need more, or could be shifted again.
I keep bingeing the task then stepping away to mull over where I’m at and what I’ve done and why.
I’m looking forward to having chapter one re-done so that I can read it through with a fresh perspective on the novel. The remaining chapters don’t seem to need the same amount of attention.
It’s a good start.