Restructure First Chapters

It’s been so long since I’ve read the beginning of Bitter Confessions that I forgot I wrote them as parts rather than books. In the original, the only flashback I showed during the course of the story was him showing up for her graduation. The flashbacks of their first meet and coffee date came after their final battle in the penthouse and were the last two chapters of part 1. During that final penthouse fight, there was a lot of focus on the beginning of their relationship (prep for the flashback).

I intended to release parts 1 & 2 at the same time, but the task of writing such massive installments was really taking its toll. I also realized I was writing, not publishing. I was holding on to my work until I deemed it was perfect, and I knew I needed to get over that fear and just let it go. So, instead of waiting another year or whatever to write part 2, I decided to release what I had, which was Bitter Secrets. Because I wasn’t releasing part 2 right after, I had to restructure Bitter Secrets, so it was more palatable and balanced. That meant placing the flashbacks of their first meet earlier in the story, and also laying the foundation, so the readers were ready for those flashbacks and had a deeper understanding of their relationship dynamic. This changed their blow up in chapter 5 (precursor to their first meet), showed more than I originally intended, and altered their relationship significantly in subsequent chapters. It was a ton of work that I blocked from my memory, but it all came flooding back when I started reading the opening of part 2/Bitter Confessions. It’s the morning after their blowup. A lot of the conversation is focused on the past. Some of these things have been resolved, addressed, or no longer have the significance that they did previously because other reveals took precedence in Bitter Secrets. 

Needless to say, I’ve spent more time than I care to admit, double-checking dialogue in the previous book and sketching out their mindsets and motivations at this point in the story to make sure I have my facts straight. You’d think I was writing a mystery rather than a romance, with all my notes and maps and everything. Sheesh.