Slugging it Out

I've reached the part of the GIANT where two of the main characters engage in a long discussion - seven or eight pages worth. It's a big part of the book - where the characters make decisions and the reader is let in on a few secrets.

My problem now is that I have tweaked the plot and sequencing of the story so much that the conversation had to be reordered and revised. During my recent hand edit I was able to lay out all the pages in front of me and resort the paragraphs. I broke the conversation into nine sections and noted the draft as such.

However, I could not put my hard work to use as during this digital edit I revised the plot just enough to make this new conversation inaccurate. A third of the conversation was cut entirely while another third was reworked. It was tedious work, referring to my original notes, scanning through the pages on screen, and trying to make sense of it all. I wanted to give up and leave it for another day, but I'm trying to put in as much work as I can, so there was no quitting.

Thankfully its finished and I'm onto smoother waters.

This Isn't Bad

I have focused on numbers lately, but I have been doing a lot of good writing as well. I've been keeping a list of questions dating back for a year or more. The questions are pretty much the result of my not having an outline. Have I properly explained this plot point? Is this idea believable? Was this made up word previously defined?

In addition to this draft being a response to my editors comments and my revisions, I'm also working hard to answer all those outstanding questions. Lately, as I've entered the thick of the story, I'm crossing off a lot of the questions and the GIANT is shaping up quite well. The plot flows and has really become intricate.

There's substance to the story and some mystery, and not the fake mystery the story had before. When I originally wrote the GIANT, I had a rough idea of the plot tucked neatly away in my head and no idea what the ending was going to be. I remember the gleeful day when I told my wife that I knew how the book was going to end (I have since changed the ending). Not knowing what was going to happen, I inserted a lot of false mystery that did nothing but confuse the reader - as my editor pointed out to me. I groaned many times reading through my work and wrote more than one "where are you going with this?" in the margins. If I cannot answer that question now, I cut out the false mystery.