Second Draft Chronicles: Sections

Welcome to the penultimate post in my second draft chronicles. Now that I've covered word count and audience it's time to talk about the actual structure of Guardians. When I started writing the second draft I thought I was going to add a part one. At this point, there are six parts and none of them are quite what I had anticipated.

Instead of simply adding on to what I already had I ended up rewriting almost every single scene from the first draft as well as adding on about forty pages. At that point though it was hard for me to make sense of everything. For large parts of the story I'm jumping back and forth between Boston in our world and Cornerstone, the fantastical city in my alternate universe. If I was getting confused then new readers could probably have a harder time.

The first step to straightening out the maze was creating chapters. After that it felt natural to divide those chapters into sections. This way readers can see the parallels between the two worlds but not forget where the action is taking place. On a more personal level adding chapters and then sections made the story feel more real. It was as if I was adding one more part that would make it an official novel. It's unclear when that day will come but at this point I'm one step closer. 

Tomorrow I'll wrap up but for now here's another excerpt from Guardians of Cornerstone. This is one of my favorite scenes because a) I'm just proud of the writing and b) I love Ben and Rafi's friendship. (It's the only bromance I can truly participate in)

            There was a knock on the door at Shooting Star.

            Ben poked at a lump. “Raf! The repairmen are here.” Rafi shook shaggy blonde hair out of his eyes and glared at Ben. “Man I just want to sleep.”

            “Dude the repairmen are here. Wake up so we can let them in.”

            “You let them in.” Rafi lumbered over to the counter. “I’ll make coffee.”

            Ben decided that it was easier for Rafi to remember the machine was broken on his own. He opened the door instead.

            “Hi. Come in. Ignore the blonde zombie in the corner. Once you start fixing the machine he’ll realize why he can’t make coffee.”

            The two men laughed and shooed Rafi out from behind the counter.

            Grabbing his friend, Ben towed Rafi into the small office in the back. “Let’s just wait here until they’re done. You know Mr. N. has his own coffee pot.”

Glaze-eyed Rafi nodded. Ben wasn’t sure he had heard anything but ‘coffee.’ Two cups (each) later the boys were back.

            “Don’t forget that we have practice today after work.”

            Rafi was slumped against the wall, eyes half closed, nursing his third cup. “For?”

            “Our band.”

            “We have a band?”

            “No stupid. We have football practice. Last time I checked you were our quarterback and pre-season starts today.”

            “Oh that practice. Yeah, Jake is covering so we can leave.”

            “It brings us closer to D-day.” Ben swirled his finger in the foamed milk.

            “D-day?”

            “The first day of senior year.”

            “And?”

            “I don’t know, it’s our last year of high school, we’ll be applying to college, shouldn’t this be significant or something?”

            Rafi shrugged. “If you want it to be.”

            “I guess I do.”

            Rafi’s smile was only slightly mocking. He hoisted his mug. “Well then here’s to D-day.”

            Ben toasted him. Rafi was a pain but he was his pain.