The Process. Argh.

I must have said, “It’s a process” a thousand times while I was teaching the McDaniel classes. And yet, it’s a lesson I have to learn over and over. Case in point: Toni’s and my collaboration on Monday Street. This book has changed so much since the beginning and it’s so much better, clearer, sharper now, but we couldn’t have gotten here without everything we did to get here. And now we’re in another rip-it-all-apart-and-look-at-the-pieces phase, so once again . . .

IT’S A PROCESS.

In the beginning, this book was going to be four interwoven stories. Then Lani dropped out and then Krissie dropped out, so Toni and I were going to interweave two stories. The idea was that all four three two would start with the same fireball in the restaurant so the reader would know that time was being re-set. “When the fireball went up, Cat/Keely/Mari was . . .”

Yeah, it wouldn’t have worked. It really didn’t work with two, especially since Toni needed to write the stuff that came before the fireball. So we threw that out and started earlier. Somewhere in there, one of us said, “Do we even need a fireball?” (“Why do we even have this lever?”) and we got rid of the fireball. Then we brought it back. Then I realized that my new first scene had a traveling antagonist (first this person, then this person, then this person) so that had to go. I tried starting with the next scene which is when stuff actually happened, but that was confusing. Meanwhile Toni was trying to figure out how to incorporate stuff from my scene in there that just didn’t fit.

Then I decided that the problem with the opening was that I didn’t know what happened at the climax. Toni said, “A big explosion.” Because I am picky, I need more. “A big magic explosion.” So we’re regrouping. Every time we regroup, we tear at our clothing and weep, and every time, the book gets better. This is not fun but it is interesting. I mean some of the things we’re arguing about discussing are just weird. Spirits trapped in perfume bottles and whiskey decanters. Exactly what’s in a magic-contaminated wilderness. What makes a magic-contaminated bay bubble. How old can a street kid be and not be considered as savvy as an adult. How did X find out Y and when. Why was there a fireball? Why is there a Big Magic Explosion? What fairy tale is this? How did we get into this mess?

I have faith we’ll get it worked out. It really is miles better than when we started. The fireball is back. I put in description. We’re making progress.

Anyway, that’s where I’ve been. With Toni on Monday Street. Trying to figure out why we’re gonna have a Big Magic Explosion.

Argh.