To Replot or Not To Replot: That Is Not the Question

I came to the painful realization earlier this week that if I stuck to my original plot line for Living in Sin, I was going to wind up with something approaching a 160,000 word monster. Yeah, I'm that far, plot-wise, from tying up all my loose ends. I have known for a long time that I have a lot going on in my story; I was just in denial that it was too much.

Alas, I am not Diana Gabaldon and therefore, I am not allowed to write 800-page epics.

So I've finally admitted to myself that it's time to take a hatchet to the sub-plots. And surprisingly, I'm not finding the process nearly as painful as I expected. In fact, if anything, it's almost as much fun to replot as to plot. Which is a good thing, I suppose, since it's entirely possible I'll find I have to replot this story yet again.

The fun thing about hatcheting subplots has been that the ones I've decided (with a little plotstorming help from my critique partner, Lacey Kaye) can go are exactly the opposite of the ones I thought would have to go. To my surprise, I've discovered some elements of the story that I always thought were absolutely essential can be dispensed with, while other elements I thought were more tangential, can remain. And the reason this is great is that I'm actually fonder of the elements I thought were tangential than I am of the ones I thought I really needed.

Since Lacey and I finished our plotstorming e-mail thread a few days ago, I've had a few more flashes of insight that will alter the storyline a bit more, but I'm excited about the changes. I believe it's a much better story with the changes than it would have been if I'd stuck with the original plot. A bit more character-driven, but still with plenty of sub-plot intrigue!

The not-fun part of hatcheting sub-plots is rewriting all the scenes you've written with the old plot in mind. Even though the replotted story can retain many of the original elements, there are still a few scenes that have to be altered or removed. Smooothing everything into the new plotline without missing anything is a tough business. Which must be why I haven't touched my manuscript for three days. (Although a couple of crush work projects and the head cold from hell have no doubt contributed to my complete lack of productivity!)

One of the reasons I'm resisting actually cutting into the manuscript or writing forward, however, is that I'm torn over whether or not to remove one of the secondary characters. I hate to cut her out because her point-of-view is so much fun (so much that I decided to make her the heroine of my next story!) and I think she serves some valuable purposes beyond the role I originally conceived for her under the old plot, but I'm not sure she can stay if she doesn't have a meaningful effect on the resolution of the externally-driven black moment.

So, I'm stymied until I either figure out how to keep her in the story or decide she has to go. Because if she doesn't go, she has to have a part in the story from this point forward. And if she goes, then she can't be in any future scenes to say nothing of those in the past. How can I write anything new until I know?