Rewriting section 50-75% of the novel has proven to be more difficult than rewriting the 0-50%. During this section, the party finds themselves in a new location, with no access to any of their previous locations. Although they are sheltered here from the empire's relentless pursuit, the clock is ticking, and a number of obstacles makes it hard for them to use the time to organize in any meaningful way.

When I asked myself what this section was about, I came up with a number of answers:

Entering the idyllic village, only to discover hidden seediness occurring
Solving the mystery of the village's people and origins
Learning firsthand about the empire's bloody genesis
Collapsing the revisionist narrative espoused by the current-day government

This was a lot of discovery and exposition that felt cumbersome to tie to the rest of the novel. Historically -- i.e., in the previous two drafts -- this section has been badly paced, as well as only erratically fleshed out. I think a lot of the feedback that the storyline felt rushed/compressed stemmed from this particular section. Also problematic, the first half of the novel is much more clearly about Sierra's encounters with the world's factions and her reactions to them. As it currently stands, her journey of self-discovery grinds to a halt at the 50% mark in favor of these location-based discoveries.

As a solution, I'm rewriting heavily to orient around a move from reaction to action on Sierra's part. She needs to begin this section with a clear motive and sense of forward movement, if not a full plan. That also means the location-based discoveries have to be rewritten so they have more impact on her personal mission, either by feeding into or hindering it. When a disaster occurs at the 75% mark-- the "Craterfall" of the second draft -- it must occur because her revelations about the village and empire have necessarily happened too late. It must occur because her best-laid plans have utterly failed.

It feels significantly taxing to undertake this sort of mode shift -- to back out of writing at the scene level or even the chapter level and reorient at the 20,000-foot view. But I'm emerging from this process feeling motivated and unstuck. With fingers crossed, all that remains is to execute.