The Planning process - not!

Having got to 40k words with Baby's Bones, I printed it all off, scene by scene, single spaced to save paper, and had a really good look at what I actually have.


On the plus side, good mystery, enjoyable historical strand, archaeology. On the minus side...where do I start? Dull main character, inane second character, cliché, cliché...So I arranged the scenes in some sort of order and have gone through with a  pen. Changing scenes, adding scenes, cutting great chunks. I'm always reluctant to cut scenes which is daft, they take relatively little time to replace and if they are not working, they are just so much compost anyway.


So, the secondary character has a back story, is less loveable and much more interesting, and my main character is more accessible. In my distant past, I found myself in a relationship with a 'separated' man. I'm drawing on that slow and horrible disappointment as I (and Sage), realised that just because something is said apparently sincerely, doesn't mean it's real. It's what, at the moment, he wants to be real. I'd like to be grown up and mature about it, but I hope he has warts and his wife has chucked him out. Sage's ex-lover may get his comeuppance, too. 


So the dining room table is covered with scenes, the living room with discarded notes and scribbled time-lines and the worst is nearly over. Tomorrow I hope to sit down and really write draft 2.