Threads

I pulled out an entire plot thread, which caused a related thread to become snarled. Now I need to fix it, but I don't think it'll be a truly horrendous job. I may need to add in a small scene or maybe a scene and a half. But...and here's the good news...taking out that one plot thread has pulled off at least 10,000 words from the body of the novel. It blew Chapter 12 completely away, and that was a 9,000-word chapter. That's the good news. The bad news is that I wasted 10,000 words on a plot thread that I DIDN'T EVEN NEED! The good news is that I realized it and was willing to cut it out. Hah. Take that.

There's more good news. According to my crit group at tonight's meeting, my ending doesn't suck. Which means, in crit group speak, that it's good. Now, granted, the romance writer liked it so much that she was even willing to forgive my male lead for keeping certain things from my female lead for the entire length of the book. He talked so pretty that she was willing to forgive him, the silver-tongued devil. I'd forgive him, too. He's a catch. However, that means that the romance in this book is pretty evident, and I'm wondering whether it's more than the usual amount for an epic fantasy. That having been said, I also think that while the plot would hang together without the strong emotions between characters, it's better with them than without them. The relationships unify things and pull events and people together. Perhaps we should jut call this an epic fantasy with strong romance themes. And no, I didn't pull any punches. I swear that every sex scene in this thing is there to advance the plot, not just for the sake of selling the book. Honest.

Evil grin? What evil grin?