#special progress

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Oh my god I never posted on here- Special’s done

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That’s it, kids. It’s a wrap. Special’s first draft is... officially finished?

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For anyone interested, Special hit 200 pages last night and I set the unreasonable goal of finishing the first draft this week.

3 more chapters to go!

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Sent out three (3) queries to agents for Special!!! 

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THE UPDATE:

Last I left off (I think anyway, I didn’t even check the blog before writing this post on my main), I printed out the first draft of Special and was looking to edit everything- hooray! 

I already knew that there’d be some major revisions with characters (i.e Tovia’s older brothers) but I had no idea I’d feel so strongly about doing a total overhaul of the story.

Whoops?

So what’s the biggest newest thing?

Tovia is diagnosed. Is he still Autistic? Probably. 

The problem: I feel like the story was being held back by the symptoms I was sort of forcing onto Tovia - I didn’t think Tovia was “Autistic enough” to be considered as such and because of that, some things didn’t translate well. I don’t have Autism. I don’t know what it’s like, despite all the research I did. It wasn’t working with my character. I personally think Tovia still is Autistic, but as far as I am in this rewrite, no one has diagnosed him with it. 

So what is the story about then? 

The same thing it’s always been about: Relationships.

It is still about the struggle to form relationships and to move forward despite your own shortcomings. 

At the beginning of Special, we find that Tovia wants to move out so as to stop putting stress on his older brother. He suffers a seizure at the middle of a dinner (which is set up as a proposal for Abigail, Felix’s girlfriend) and is rushed to the hospital where he first meets Ben.

In the new iteration, Tovia survives a failed suicide attempt, already lives on his own, and meets Ben.

I think, personally, it’s brought a new life to the story. We’re already set in the conflict that’s Tovia’s personal life. His family is worried he might hurt himself again. He doesn’t think highly of himself and has to try to go on with his life as if nothing’s happened despite the fact that he still doesn’t want to be alive.

TLDR: There’s more conflict like this, which is something Special has always struggled with, as well as a lot firmer stance on relationships and how we affect one another.

Sick.

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Two chapters down. Two chapters left.