The Editing Has Begun

Okay, so titles aren't really my thing, and I couldn't think of anything better- and I know, I'm supposed to make blog titles "searchable" and use lots of keyword in the title. I'll have to look into how to do that- it's not my thing lol!

Anyway, my "vacation" from Rescue is all over, and it's time to start editing. I’m beginning by reading the first draft through and making notes of anything that’s not consistent, not “tied up" at the end, doesn’t make sense, etc. I’m also making note of scenes that are unnecessary (but aren’t they ALL necessary?!), and scenes that are going to need to be written to make the story stronger. No matter how much I plan my story beforehand, I don’t really get to know my characters until I’m writing, nor do I really know what my themes are. So once I get writing and see patterns emerge, I can figure shit out and add things in the next draft to build on them.

This week, I thought I’d write chapter one from Jake’s point of view, just to see what’s going on. This can be kind of a fun exercise, and I LOVE seeing scenes through a different character’s eyes. Now, the “final” version of Rescue is going to have a COMPLETELY different beginning, and I hope it will help get the story going a little quicker.

Let me know what you think of alternate POV scenes…if you like them, I’ll add more! Thank you for reading!

Chapter One, But From Jake's Point of View

Jake came around the turn in the road and BAM!- there was a car stopped half in his lane. He managed to slam on the brakes and swerve, barely missing the bumper of the rusty old shitbox.

“What the fuck is this idiot doing?” Jake peered at the person kneeling in the middle of the road. He drove by, then stopped and shoved his pickup in reverse. No one in their right mind would be kneeling in the road around a blind corner with their car running on the side. The person- a woman- looked up, and he realized who it was. From what he’d heard of town gossip, she might not be in her right mind.

It was Paige Brandt, the girl who thought she could talk to horses. Since Jake had tried to avoid any of the activities his family participated in, he’d stayed away from the horse shows Paige had competed at against his younger sister, Natalie. And ‘Paige’ was a dirty word in his family’s home- she beat Natalie’s quarter-million dollar jumpers in nearly every event they competed at. Father was not impressed when Paige’s loser rescue horses jumped higher and faster than anything he could buy. He almost smiled at the memory of Natalie and father ranting and raving about her, figuring she was up to something or knew the judges a little too well…Jake just figured the rumors could be right- apparently Paige was a horse whisperer. His smile slipped, though, when he remembered his brother, Nick, taking a sudden liking to her. And how terribly it ended. Jake thought about driving off- she probably wouldn’t want to talk to him anyway.

But he’d already stopped the truck beside her. She looked up at him and wiped her eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asked. She was rubbing her neck, and when he looked at her car again, he saw the passenger-side headlight busted out and a scrape all the way across the hood. Maybe she’d been hurt in the accident.

“I hit a deer,” she replied. She didn’t seem to recognize him, to his relief. The last twenty years hadn’t been as kind to him as they were to her.

“Your headlight’s busted and your car looks a little banged up, but will it still drive?”

“It should,” she said, looking over her shoulder at it. “I wasn’t going very fast.”

“I don’t see the deer, so unless you already put it in your trunk, I take it it’s okay. How about you? Are you hurt?” She was still rubbing her neck.

She squinted at him, like she was trying to figure out who he was. His cheeks burned when her gaze seemed to stop on the scar that ran across the left side of his face from his jawbone all the way to the bottom of his eye. He hadn’t had that the last time he’d spoken to her. He frowned and turned to face the road, hiding the scar.

“Well, you’re out here walking around, so I take it you’re fine,” he said, more sharply than he’d meant to. Jake put the truck in drive and started to pull away.

“I’m okay. And the buck told me he’s okay, too,” Paige said quickly. Then she slapped both hands over her mouth, and her cheeks turned bright pink.

Jake bit back a laugh, and turned his head just enough to see her, but not enough that she could see his scar again. “You sure you’re okay, Darlin?” he asked.

Paige nodded, her hands still over her mouth.

“Well, if you’re talkin’ to that buck again, would you tell him to visit my ranch out Maple Ridge Road right around the middle of November? I’d love to have him for dinner.”

Paige’s hands dropped to her side, and her mouth opened like she had something to say, but couldn’t think of what.

Jake chuckled. “Listen, if you’re lookin’ to get that light fixed, my buddy Jim has the garage on Almond Street. Tell him Jake sent you and he’ll help you out. He owes me a favor anyway.”

“Thanks,” Paige mumbled, her eyes on the ground. She couldn’t even look at him, his scar was so ugly. He couldn’t remember when he’d been so aware of his scar. Not since he’d gotten it.

Jake felt his face heat more, and he hoped it wasn’t as obvious as Paige’s pink cheeks were. He let the truck roll forward.

“I was looking at your eyes, not your scar!” she blurted before he’d passed her by.

Jake turned his whole face to look at her, her eye wide and even more horrified than when he made the comment about the deer. He shook his head and chuckled, and drove away. He glanced in the rearview mirror, and Paige was still in the road, watching his truck drive away like she was an abandoned puppy. He reached up and touched the scar on his face, wondering if she knew how he’d gotten it.

Of course she didn’t.

She hadn’t even recognized him. He looked in his mirror once more to see her narrowly avoid being clipped by another car that was going way too fast, then she was safely in her car and he was around the next bend, out of sight.