Rebecca Enzor

Pike keeps me from writing in true antagonist fashion.

Good news, Aledans! I started the re-write of NAMELESS yesterday! Actually, I started it Tuesday, but I was reading Wind Through The Keyhole and I pick up on Stephen King’s writing style way too easily. It sounded more like one of the Rebecca Stories than Nameless, so I had to start over. The new beginning scene isn’t quite as exciting as being thrown into the middle of a whipping, but it’s rich in setting which the whipping was lacking, and it sets up both the midpoint and the final plot point very nicely (why yes, I am using terminology from Story Engineering like a real plotter).

I haven’t quite finished outlining the re-write yet (so much for being a real plotter, eh?), but I’m far enough along that I feel confident nothing in the first quarter will change. I also realized I don’t have to re-storyline the entire book – just the first half. In the last re-write everything after the horse scene was good. Really good. As I’ve been working on identifying Plot Points and Pinch Points I realized what should have been obvious all along: that scene is the Midpoint. That’s the scene where Kindra stops reacting to everything that’s happened and starts fighting back. Really fighting back at the antagonist, not just fighting everyone around her because she doesn’t know what to do. Once I knew the Midpoint, the Second Pinch Point and Second Plot Point were easy to find (but I can’t tell you what they were, because that would give away too much). If the horse scene is the Midpoint, and not the beginning of the last third like I thought, it means I only have half a book to fix, not two thirds of a book to fix!

Actually I don’t even have half a book to fix, because I’ve already fixed the first quarter of it. So I just have to nail the “Response” section and the First Pinch Point (which is giving me headaches on Kindra’s end. For the first time ever Kaye’s been easier to storyline) and I’ll be done. Since I know where I need to be, and where I’m coming from, I’m going to try M.E. Summer’s suggestion of storylining backwards (I just discovered her blog yesterday, and it’s a wealth of information on writing – go check it out!). In the meantime I’ll be re-writing the first quarter in hopes of having this thing finished by September.

In other news, my friend Jill (Pony Customizer, Monster Wrangler, and last year’s ABNA winner) is giving away two ARCs of Spookygirl, her paranormal YA: “Violet Addison can chat with the dead, but what really frightens her is starting her sophomore year at a new school. Still reeling from the loss of her mother, Violet is about find herself in the company of ghosts . . . both playful and deadly evil. Standing at the threshold to an unseen world with newfound friends at her side, only Violet can uncover the truth behind her mother’s death and save the family business–paranormal investigation.” Head over to her blog to enter for a chance to win!