Chapters 1 to 14: Already Rewritten
Chapter One
As I get into this, I have an admission to make: I am a pantser. If you don’t know what a pantser is, don’t worry, neither does my spell check. It thinks I mean “panther.” I don’t. A pantser is the opposite of a plotter; someone who flies by the seat of their pants while writing, rather than plotting it out beforehand. While I go into any writing project knowing in broad strokes what will happen, how it will finish, etc, by virtue of pantsing (no spell check, I don’t mean “panting”), things evolve as I write them.
One of the earliest thoughts I had while drafting Till Death Do Us Party is that I need to change the characters’ ages. While initially, I kept the characters’ ages the same as mine (old), it was becoming apparent that I needed to make them about a decade younger. Not only did they come across as younger (thanks to my own immaturity), it occurred to me that the ending will be stronger with younger characters. I’d explain why, but that’s a major spoiler.
Another early thought was that I should increase the protagonists’ number of children, which continued until I started rewriting and I realised that adds nothing to the story—not all my ideas are genius.
As this is the opening chapter that establishes the world and its two leads, and I wanted to convey a sense of dread, it was important that I get this right. So the rewrites, without adding or removing anything major, were fairly extensive.
Chapter Two
The second chapter is a little more transitory than the first. While that was setting the scene, this chapter takes the characters to where they are going. It’s a smaller chapter, which lets us spend a little more time with the characters, further establishing them.
It is also an introduction to another character, one who I originally intended to use sparingly. But as I was writing them, I kinda fell in love with the character, and I have expanded their role throughout the rest of the book. They are still probably the eighth or ninth most major character, but they won’t simply pop into the story and pop back out again; they will be around for a few of the major moments.
Chapter Three
With the introductory chapters over, the characters have arrived in their destination. There is a bit of world-building in this chapter, as well as an introduction to the third major character. Originally, when I set down to start work on Till Death Do Us Party, I was thinking this would be about 70,000 words, and the closest thing I would get to writing a romantic comedy. Instead of romance, it looks more at the ills of society, but that said, it’s still probably the closest I’ll ever get to writing a rom-com.
This third character didn’t change much from my original idea, though, which was to fulfill the role of the wacky best friend. They have definitely evolved from the original idea, may or may not still fit within the “best friend” role, but they are still the wackiest major character in the book.
Chapter Four
I almost grouped this in with the fifth chapter for this article. We meet a number of new characters (eight of them to be precise, including one I threw in for shits and giggles, and has a slightly bigger role than originally intended). This flows right into the next chapter, but that one has some extensive changes, so let’s move on.
Chapter Five
“Plot twist!”
Secrets that the earlier chapters have hinted at are outlined in this chapter. In my commentary about the third chapter, I mentioned that Till Death Do Us Party looks at societal ills, and it is here that the themes throughout the book come to the fore.
Of the chapters I have redrafted, this one has the most extensive rewrites.
A lot of this is getting the tone right and trying to make the comedic aspects actually funny. I hope I succeeded. To do this, I wiped out swathes of text, removing half the chapter and rewriting it from scratch. I do think it works a lot better this way.
Chapter Six
In the initial draft, this was the shortest chapter in the book. Unless something changes dramatically, it will likely stay that way.
In it, the lead characters debrief from the previous chapter, and it sets the scene for what’s to come next. It is also the first example of how violent this story will get.
This also happens to have one of my favourite openings to any chapter. Until I finally publish this book, chapter openings are subject to change. But I like this one, and my next newsletter may or may not include the current version of this opening. If you haven’t subscribed, click here and do so. It’s an easy process and I won’t spam you more than once a month. I’ll have another reminder at the end of this article, but just do it now, before you think better of it.
Chapter Seven
A new threat is revealed: bureaucracy!
Well, it’s not entirely new; earlier chapters look at bureaucracy, too.
But another new threat is revealed, and there’s more gore, following on from the previous chapter. Yes, this is a comedy. Yes, it’s about the ills of society. But yes, it’s also a bloody, gory horror.
Chapters Eight and Nine
I hinted earlier that I’ll be grouping chapters, and that’s what I’m doing here. This way, you won’t need to read paragraph after paragraph about each individual chapter. In these chapters, we meet another new character, and I have sent the characters off on various journeys.
While very different to each other, they both have characters reflecting on what has come before.
There was a fair amount of rewriting involved, particularly in the ninth chapter, where I replaced a sizeable chunk of text, but outside of that, there wasn’t too much more involved with these.
Chapter Ten
Conventional wisdom tells you that the inciting incident of any book should be in the first chapter. No, I haven’t ignored that and waited until chapter ten to get there, but at around the one-third mark of this novel, we have an “oh, shit!” moment that kicks the story up a notch.
There was a bit of refining required for this moment, but outside of that, the edits were relatively par for the course.
Chapter Eleven
I struggled with this chapter, and whether I should keep the opening as it is. We catch up with a character and what they’re doing now, with some gross-out humour thrown in for good measure. Like, really gross. I decided to keep this as is, and at this stage, I have no idea of whether it will make the final cut, or if I have pushed the distaste too far.
Otherwise, this chapter has a bit of exposition and moves things on to the next three chapters, which is where I finished the rewrites.
Chapters Twelve, Thirteen and Fourteen
These three chapters are very closely linked, and after I edited them acted as a great jumping off point so I could look at rewriting them.
These are three brutal chapters. They are violent, but more than that, they are emotional. I’m not going to say too much about them, but they drive the themes of this silly little story home, and hopefully make you feel for the characters. One in particular.
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