Freedom to plot

Giving myself permission to start draft 2 of A Baby's Bones has had a freeing effect. I can look at what I have, and take the main character in an entirely new direction. What the book needs (I think) is to be darker, more tense and the characters more conflicted. The male character is being wasted, he can be much more focused and bloody minded, which would help the story. 


I started with the idea that the story in the past can slowly parallel the story in the present. In the past, the man has a 'stalker', a woman who believes that he loves her although he doesn't spend any time with her or ever speak to her (erotomania). I liked the idea of mirroring the past with the present but getting away from that slightly predictable idea, gives me room to really explore two better rounded human beings. I also need contrast between the male characters, and starting a new draft allows redrawing them.


Best of all, redrafting has given me valuable thinking time. I tend to be a slave to the writing process and don't give enough thought to where the story is going (or going to end up) and grind to a halt because I took a wrong turn chapters ago. Now I can chill out, start again. I have some very good words I can just move around and rework, so I will quickly build a good platform from which to launch the new chapters. I hope!