Yesterday, after half a day of "have-to" type stuff, I pulled up the former GN and got more of it into shape. Then today I was able to work on it nearly all day, cutting around 50 pages and one character. I'm going to bring another character back, one I'd decided to cut earlier and who's already mostly gone from the ms.*

Now it all makes sense, mostly. I see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel--not that the ms is anywhere near being finished, but there's a possibility that this time, finally, I may be getting it right. Fingers crossed--and if this particular train of thought doesn't work out, well, what else is new?



*Thinking about it, the character I'd tried to keep but ended up cutting today was there for plot. There are only one or things about his sections that I enjoyed, and I can use them elsewhere for other people. As of today, he's entirely lopped out.

But I never quite managed to entirely get rid of the character I tried to cut before. Her personality and the things she said were just too good, and too fun. I wanted to cut her because she didn't do anything for story. But now I see that she can take over some of the duties of the newly cut character as well as getting a bunch of other tasks done--all arising naturally from her personality and situation. There's nothing about her that's a chore to get in, while most of the other character's scenes tended to turn ponderous and the story couldn't hold my interest while I was writing them.

With all the cutting today, I may bring the baby back, too. There may be room for it now. We'll see.