Act 3 in Progress

So… I totally didn’t win on NaNoWriMo. I did manage to outline the rest of act 2 for my dystopian novel. So yeah. That’s progress. My poor MC is having a rough time. Her life will get much worse in the next novel. 🤦🏻‍♀️

What I've been trying to do is to make sure that I not only amp up the action, but that I ... how do I put it?

So up to this point in the novel, the MC hasn't been much in the driver's seat. I won't go into much detail, because... spoilers. But, she hasn't. She has a little, but not much. What I've needed to do is to make sure that she dives head first into her fall, because this is after all the story of her fall so that we can see her become redeemed later. The fall has to be organic. It has to make sense. You have to still like her. You also have to see it coming, even if she doesn't, and you have to want to go along with her on the ride.

All of this has been the problem. In my first outline, I rushed the plot, so I ended up chopping off 2/3 of the outline and saved it for the next novel (or 2?). Then I had to slow the heck down, but still keep the stakes amped up. There's a key scene that I've been playing hot potato with. Do I put it here? Do I put it there? Where does it go? I know it has to do somewhere, but where?

Then I had a flash. It came after I started working on my plot bunny for my demon hunting story. I think that I have it figured out. I think that the stakes are still high enough. At least to Tessa, the stakes are high, so that's something. She's going to be a dumbaas, which is what we want. I mean. We don't want her to be, because we like her. But for the story to continue, we need her to be. Her being a dumbass makes sense within her personality, so yay!

So. I think that I've got it. Fingers crossed.