"The Between" at 44K

I don't really like to share more than snippets of a novel in progress. It feels too much like shifting from creative mind to analytical/critical mind and that can derail the writing process.

But, I also had the opportunity to move large sections of the novel through a small critique group of writers whose process I respect. So I'm doing something with "The Between" that I haven't done with any of my previous novels--critiquing as I am writing.

I tried to do this with an earlier group, with a poor outcome--I got frustrated and stopped writing the story. But that was moving much earlier, much more raw work through a different group of writers. Neither the writing, nor I were ready for that analytical mode. Now with a far clearer sense of the story and its characters, I'm finding great value in this process. And rather than go back to address my fellow writing group members' critiques, I am noting where I need to make changes and continuing, hoping that I am able to incorporate the spirit of their commentary into new writing.

So far, so good.

I spent yesterday's writing time roughly sketching out where the story needs to go in the next 3 chapters, approximately the next 10K worth of words. That should bring me to the novel's climax. I'm pretty excited about the way it's all coming together. Lydia is at a crucial decision point in her journey--one that will define the outcome of the story. There is little better than writing when the stakes are so high for your characters.

Yes, this is a changeling tale, and yes it uses many of the tropes common to fairy tales. This is material that many writers mine, but there are many elements in "The Between" that are different in this treatment of the changeling story, particularly in how the protagonist feels about her Mortal upbringing and her struggle to get back to the life she lost, and the fact that there are two points of view to mirror the differences between Fairy and the Mortal world.

Back to the writing. . .