tooting a horn before there is anything to celebrate

--in hopes that I'll guilt myself into doing something.

I am hoping to get some real work done on a flight tomorrow, assuming the time change doesn't wipe me out, capacity-wise. It will be quick work to get Deluge done (hopefully) and Shadows is coming together and have printed up Down, Absent, and Physical. *cough* and someone at small group wants to read the grouping (which she calls a novel. Which it is NOT. It's a collection of interlacing short stories that have underlying plot currents and an arc and... IT'S NOT A NOVEL.)
...
unless it is, in which case I will really have to give up on writing short stories because I've collected all the shorts and made them a novel. That's insanity somewhere, I'm sure of it.

That only took a little bit of forever

Plotting how to interlock two stories should really, really not take this long. I have been sitting here for most of the afternoon and even gave myself a crying break-down of "why can't I make this work?"

Not helped by my mom asking "Are you working on a job app?"

Er. No. But this should work, it really should. It's an in-character solution that will let me put 'Deluge' first, revise some things in 'Shadows' (and come up with a better title) and everything should run much smoother. It fits the pacing better too. I knew it had to be there. The process of digging for that solution is like playing archeologist in the dark though.

*happy sigh* Okay. Relief. And I improved a two-year old story! Got the cheesy knives and stabbing out of there and everything.

In lieu of Twitter, yes, let's see, this is what I'll do...

Situation: I have two stories. Three, actually.

-The first took place about two months before the second.

-The second introduces a character and the current political situation. It also builds up a sort of rapport between the introductory character and the protagonist.

-The third tries to kill someone, and instills a mixture of forced trust and doubt between introductory and protag.

--

The first story is not important for my purposes. The third makes for a nice start-up piece after the first's cliffhanger, but the second has all the important bits. And some nice character development. And lots of angst. Ohyay.

The easy solution is to rewrite the second, but since the once-third story has instilled a sense of distrust, it changes the whole tone. Hm. Though I might want to do that.

Gah, the more I read either, the worse it gets. Sigh. Okay. The third story needs to be rewritten to fit, so it can be first after the break. Less distrustful, because I need to work up a good rapport. The introductory scene needs to be cut and summarized, nice and somber as it is. I think... I THINK I can do this.

What about anyone else? Unsolvable plot conundrums?