Day Forty-eight - 91,543 words and counting

I'm writing a novel. All my progress can be found on my private blog. The commentary for each day's work can be found below.

Shhhhh... do you hear that? It's the sound of not knowing where to go next.

Don't get me wrong, I have dozens of scenes for the future of this novel mapped out, but there's no really good, vital scene for me to write right now that would connect them. So I'm left with a couple of choices. One is to writing a lame connective scene to get me where I want to go, and just revise it into something better later. I've done that before, and invariably it's the hardest kind of writing to slog through, and I feel dirty after I'm done.

The other option is to put in some thought right now and write a scene that is vital to the plot. But doing that would mean restructuring the plot somewhat, and might bring down the house of cards I've set up for later in the book.

The choice is clear. I've got to try to make today's scene worthwhile, even if it means rethinking everything that happens later. So what can I do here? I can switch to another POV. Devan is still recuperating, so his POV would be dull right now. Merona has nothing really to do right now either, and anyway, we're going to be seeing more of her almost immediately, as soon as Bryony gets on the road to visit the Patroness.

How about other POVs? I have to be careful here, because I made a decision early on that, except for the brief Lowell POV in the prologue, I wasn't going to do any one-shot POVs. So if I choose another character to do a POV for here, I'm going to want to carry it through the whole book.

As I've been typing this, the answer has started to seep from by subconscious into my conscious mind. Who attacked Bryony? The reader doesn't know, but at some point, I'm going to want the reader to know. So how will I convey that information? I could just have Gessica tell Bryony the results, but what if I don't want Bryony to know yet, but I want the reader to?

For that, I'll need someone who's actually conducting the investigation... Gideon, in other words. It's funny, but I hadn't intended him to be a POV character, but the more I think about it, the more I'd like to explore his voice. The same thing happened with Merona... she went from a minor character whose POV I used out of convenience and became a driving force behind a subplot of her own, and a great perspective on Gessica. It let me keep Gessica in the story when Bryony wasn't around.

With Gideon, I'll be able to keep the market in the story at a time when Bryony isn't there... in either timeline. I'll get to see it from a different perspective as well. I've introduced several characters in the guard, including Lowell, Tonio, and Tagget (and Rondel, remember him?), who can now rise to greater importance.

So is it decided? Chapter 2 is now officially a Gideon POV. And I think I know where it's going, too. It won't mess up my later chapters--in fact, it will probably strengthen them. Okay, let's try it.

--

I like the Gideon chapter, and I like his voice. Tomorrow, I'll have to decide whether to continue with it, or pick up with Bryony. Either way, it will be the end of chapter 2, and it starts tomorrow.

Today's Total: 1,754 / 1,689 words (103.8%)
Nov. Progress to Date: 32,316 / 28,713 words (112.5%, 2.1 days ahead)
Nov. Total Progress: 32,316 / 50,670 (63.8%)
Book 2 Est. Completion 7,674 / 84,450 words (9.1%, 45 days to go)
Est. Completion: 91,543 / 250,000 words (36.6%, 94 days to go)