I started my first rewrite last week. I was 18 pages in when I realized that what I has in mind wasn’t going to work.
Here is the problem: the first 150 pages or so of my book is all back story. It tells the history of my protagonist. While the back story has a lot of action, the second part of the book is where my critiques say they connected with the characters more. There is action in the second part as well. It’s just spread out a little more. So what I tried to do is condense and interweave the action of the back story into the character development of the second part, but my first attempt made the story too choppy. Things did not flow well.
So I left the first rewrite where it was and started a second rewrite. This one is still in chronological order (so far), but I have been able to condense it by about 10 pages which is better. I was going to keep it the same as the original and focus on being clear and concise, but now I have changed my mind again. I found one spot that might work where I can cut off the back story, jump to the second part then work in the remaining back story to reveal the protagonist’s history of how he has become the person he is.
I’m going to look at it this evening or tomorrow night when ever I have time. Any one have any thoughts on the matter?
