That isn't a boast, and it isn't strictly true. It is kind of my 3rd draft, because my second draft was boring. I mean, painfully boring. I had somehow managed to strip my story of everything that made it interesting. Imagine that. Hahaha.....Seriously. The 3rd draft became 2.2 as soon as a read 2.1. It wasn't pretty.
So, 3rdish draft is about being a stickler. I'm stripping everything out that I find weak and annoying. It looks like that might include the first two chapters!
Two...
...entire...
...chapters.
What seemed like a good introduction to my protagonist the first TWO times, now feels like a clunky, particians view of how "them damn teenagers" get on. I don't know how I managed to miss it the first time, but coming back to it now, I feel like I was possessed by a 70 year old curmudgeon when I wrote it. This gives me pause for the rest of the book. How many of my personal biases led to my condescending to my (supposed) target audience so openly? Was I writing a book at all, or was this going to be some life lesson about what it means to be a teenager in a grown up world?
So, I'm looking at this draft almost entirely with that idea in mind. How curmudgeonly was I being? I'll have to be hard on myself. This is a major revision that I hadn't planned on, but if I want a book that appeals to my target audience, then this is what's needed.
One advantage of losing the first two chapters, is that I now get to restructure. The book will be opening on a scene of confusion that will set a better tone for the rest of the work (I think). I might also be able to restructure. There were two different timelines going on in the opening of the book initially. I'll be able to bring the action back to being more immediate with this rewrite.
So, not all bad. I'll let you know how it goes.
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