Went to critique group today and read the first draft of the first chapter of the NR sequel. Bless their hearts, they managed not to bat an eye about being dropped without warning into the middle of a story that already has 63,000 words of world-building and explanation behind it.

I noticed right away when reading that yep, this chapter is way too long. I need to break it up, but I hate breaking one scene into two chapters. Must think about this. However, before I think about it, I have to prepare some more for the writer talk next week. I can't just write down what I want to say and read it aloud. Not for a lecture-type thing. I have to outline it and then somehow try to remember what to say from that. Not my strong point at all.

I don't know what tack to take on the Night Road sequel. I've got all those scenes from the previous version, the one with the wrong MC, that I could translate into the new MC's POV. Or I could try to outline a little bit, if I want to be daring and masochistic, since I don't really know how to get the story rolling.

I've got the MC and this other guy (not an MC) in a room, talking. I don't know what happens right after that. The story is set off by this first-chapter meeting/confrontation, but I'm not sure where to go as soon as the chapter is done. This is the plotting issue I'm blank on; this move from setup to story is one thing that's making me think multiple viewpoints and outlines. Also, in the the first version of this ms, the two MCs don't meet till late in the story. That may not be appropriate here. To me, the question of when they meet is not a plotting question but a thematic one, and it's also to do with the character arc. What do these two learn from each other, about each other, but about themselves as well, during the course of the book? How does their meeting change each of them?

But first, I have to work on this talk for next week.