And thus endeth act one.
Almost. One more chapter and then I start on the "middle" of The Daphne Project.
This is my sixth (!) book, and I've always had a problem with middles. When I get an idea for a book, it's usually in the form of a few images from the beginning of the story. The plot catalyst and a few characters are clear in my mind. After tossing the idea around for awhile and chatting with Ken, I come up with the reason behind the images and discover the ending. So it should be an easy thing, right, to get from the beginning to the end?
Nope. It really, really isn't for me.
So this time I'm taking a different approach. I'm thinking in terms of acts, like in a play or a movie. First Act: problem. Second Act: figure out how to solve the problem. Act three: problem solved. I know that this is overly simplistic, and I'm probably butchering the concept, but hopefully from a mental standpoint it'll help me render the middle relevant to everything else.
One more chapter and I get to test the theory. After going back and editing and fixing and cleaning up the first act and figuring out where in the hell I'm going, of course.