Chapter 21 remains the longest chapter in the current draft of Lament of the Dove, even after I’ve reached the end of it tonight in the Word Count Reduction pass. Not too many words taken out of it at all, but that doesn’t strike me as a bad thing; a lot happens in it, and nothing in it feels extraneous to me at this point. I think I did well to find a couple hundred words I could trim at all.
This leaves Chapter 22 and Chapter 23 to get through, since I’ve already touched on Chapter 24 by removing Nine-Fingered Rab’s last scene. If I get ambitious, I could maybe finish off this draft by the end of the week, and that would give me most of the month of February for the hardcore final changes before I fling the manuscript back at Carina Press.
Meanwhile, I’m already mulling a couple of changes of notable nouns: the name of the former nation of Alendar, as well as Celoren’s horse. I’ve been told “Alendar” is too close to “Adalonia” as a nation name, so I want something shorter and starting with a consonant, ideally no more than two syllables. That, however, will come in in the sixth draft.
This feels like a good plan. Let’s see if I can implement it. Wish me luck, folks.
