Every book is the first book

So the second draft of this book has followed the basic shape of the first draft (apart from a new first chapter stolen from 2/3 of the way through) for 20,000 words now. That may … well, it’s not a new record, but I don’t think that’s happened since the unsold YA I wrote before Bones of Faerie. Or maybe since Secret of the Three Treasures, when the entire shape of the first draft stayed, and a remarkable number of the words, too, though by 20,000 words that book was in its final scenes.

There’s knowing one’s process, and then there’s knowing every book will have its own variations within that. It’s fascinating, really.

For Bones of Faerie, by the way, the second draft parted from the first one right around, oh, the point where Liza looked at Matthew, after the wild dogs attached them, and basically said, “Wolf! Monster! Leave me!” And Matthew did. Yeah, just a few minor character adjustments as that book evolved. 🙂 On the other hand, if not for that draft, I never would have known Matthew was a wolf in the first place. Which was a huge revelation. Realizing that no, Karin really wasn’t human, and certainly wasn’t Samuel’s girlfriend, was another such “minor” adjustment. Those early messy drafts never feel wasted, for me. But is is amazing, looking back, how much does change.

Or not. Because I won’t know how much the remaining 40,000 or 50,000 words of this book intend to change until they do. Or don’t, depending.