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Get Me Rewrite!

G'yuh! I wonder how today's chapter—

Interactive: "A Dana's-Eye View" 
Public: "A Dana's-Eye View" 

—will read to people. I had to rewrite that stupid thing over and over again, including a last-minute rewrite that deleted a huge chunk and added a new section just before I published it. That's one reason I'm late today in getting it posted.

Disclaimer: I'm not actually looking for feedback or validation. Asking "how will people react" is just the hook for the post.

So these chapters are part of a commission, and I've got some targets I've been asked to hit while fulfilling it. But I also (for my own peace of mind) have to hit a couple of bases before I turn my attention to the targets. Like, if you're a long-time reader of BoM, you know what has happened to Will, and that it's a pretty big change. And I feel like I have to work through some of the consequences of that change—like what he's going to do about it, given that he thinks he's someone else—before an actual plan starts to form. Otherwise, it's going to feel rushed.

Today's chapter was one where the gears started to grind as I began the transition to the commission proper. It has nothing to do with the commission itself (I should add); but I had to set up the last of the possible reaction-choices while also setting up the choice that is going to lead into the commission. And I found that very challenging. What was going to happen to Will on that first day back at school that would point in one very particular direction while still setting up some other, very different directions the story could go?

Motive and reaction: Those are the atomic elements in story telling. What is the character going to do, and what are his or her reasons for doing it? Get one of them wrong, or don't connect them in the right way, and the story loses focus and plausibility. Today's chapter was a real challenge at getting it right.