Rewrites from the ground up

I thought I'd give everyone a little writing update to let you know what I've been doing with my writing time (besides devising blog posts and losing countless hours to critiquing and Twitter).

My current project is "Racing the Dark" - book one in my "The Mortal Cure" trilogy. I started planning it out at the end of 2008, and finally began writing in October 2009. The first draft was finished in January 2010, and I began rewrites later that year. Just when I figured I'd sorted it out, I discovered Critique Circle, and some incredibly helpful people who offered some fantastic comments on how I could improve it.

Taking their comments to heart, I started rewrites in September from the ground up. And I mean, from the ground up. I added a prologue to hopefully give a sense that this isn't your everyday Young Adult vampire story, and drop some hints about things to come. I changed the beginning to give added motivation to my main character, and introduce some plot points sooner. I also added in a new POV to the beginning, so when I switch to this character's POV later in the book, I'll hopefully avoid jerking the reader out of the story.

It's taking a long time, but I think it will be worth it in the end. I'm quite enjoying seeing the different direction the book is taking, and the added depth I'm able to give to the characters.

I'm going to end with a little rewritten excerpt:

In a cascade of skeletal leaves, a figure fell out of the tree and landed on the forest floor, his wrist bent beneath his body. A sickening crack echoed through the wood.

Amanda swallowed. The boy on the floor couldn’t be much older than her.

Trey kicked him. “Get up.”

The boy pushed himself up with his uninjured wrist, but his arm shook and he collapsed to the ground again.

“I said ‘Get up’”. Trey pulled him up by the collar of his work-shirt. The buttoned front cut into his neck and he yanked at it, gagging. The Vigilari hoisted him higher, until his feet kicked out, trying to find something to stand on.

Amanda closed her eyes, but the boy’s choked gasps haunted her ears. Anger burned her throat. She should do something. The vampires shouldn’t be able to get away with doing this to them. She felt around the soil again, and her hand closed around a stone. She could throw it and…

And what?

All she would succeed in doing would be to draw their attention to her. Then, it wouldn’t just be the boy hanging from the Vigilari’s grasp, but her as well. And Finn wouldn’t get his ring, and the Guardians would-

She let the stone fall from her palm. Her fingers curled into a fist. One day. One day, humans would stand against them, and the vampires wouldn’t know what hit them.

So, how are you doing in your ongoing projects? Making progress? Or is it slow going for you too? For those of you doing NaNo, are you meeting your word count targets?

Image: Againstar / FreeDigitalPhotos.net