i‘ve been spinning in circles on revisions for Ornithology, mostly because I had this really nasty problem.

Plot A was originally going to be the plot of the book. It became quite clear to me when I first started writing that Plot A couldn’t possibly sustain the length of the book. But B and C happily stepped in, and Plot C took on a life of its own, aided by bizarre recalcitrance, in such a way that Plot C almost looks like it was planned, even though the motivation for Character D didn’t come in until very near the end of the book, and resolution E was added last-minute. Still, there are scenes that have been there from near the beginning–not just from near the beginning, but that were written around the time I wrote the first two chapters–that make it look like resolution E was planned all along. All hail the almighty pants.
In any event, there are still remnants of Plot A still stuck in the book. And the problem is, they’re grafted in well and tight. I haven’t been able to figure out what to do with them. I can’t tug it out entirely, or the rest of the book unravels. But if I leave it in, it’ll look like a misshapen monstrosity with two heads.

I finally figured out how to deal with it. Unfortunately, it will require me to rewrite my first chapter. I’m going to lose a huge number of lines that I really, really loved. Ouch. Ouch, and ouch. I want to hold onto them so badly, but it’s just structurally wrong. It’s not fair. It’s really just not fair. Not at all.

Excuse me while I beat my head against the wall yet one more time. Then I will go and cut. Sigh.

~ divider ~