I am in exposition hell. And it’s odd, because I love novels that trickle out the exposition slowly, or else don’t give it at all. Like The Handmaid’s Tale. But I keep thinking of cunning ways to dole it out in chapter one. So I’m 6,000 words into chapter one.
If I were bold I would just ditch chapter one right now and go to the midpoint. It’s not like this is going to be my only draft. Plus, I’ve got an outline.
It’s just … I’m one scene away from being done with chapter one.
You know what? I’m abandoning chapter one. Instead, I’m going to write an exposition checklist. It’ll be everything you need to know, then I’m going to note when the facts come up organically.
Then again, maybe I won’t. It seems I’m putting a lot of effort into avoiding revisions. Right now I’m heading down Jerry’s path to a good first chapter and a bad conclusion, and I’m sober.