What's the Furor, Baby?

Ok, let's talk about writing progress next.

Chapter 16 is done and in the books as of last weekend. Now I'm headed into a three-pack of chapters that will totally upset the applecart, and it's at this point there was some debate as to how to continue on.

Chapter 17 is going to be all new material. In rereading what I had, I decided that the chapter that was here jumps ahead a little too quick and doesn't take full advantage of some of the underlying subplots. Also, I decided I wanted to get Quinn into the mix sooner rather than later, and she'll debut here. That's the first scene -- Kelly and Quinn having a conversation. The rest of the chapter takes kind of a detour from the usual format, in that Kelly doesn't appear in any of those scenes, and in fact doesn't even know what's happening in them. They kind of break down as such:
a) Laurel and Ben
b) Gwen and Alexis
c) Emma and Alyssa
d) *top secret*

It's that last scene that'll cause the most fuss by far. While I have the idea of what Kelly and Quinn are talking about, and what Laurel and Ben talk about, those middle two scenes there are as of yet a mystery to me. What I do know is that:
1) I want to have all of the Big 8 in this chapter in some way
2) I want all of the first four scenes to actually be happening at the same time (that very last scene happens in it's own timeframe, though)
3) I've wanted for a while to explore the other two best-friend pairings (Emma/Alyssa and Gwen/Alexis) in scenes where Kelly isn't present.

That's all I know.

In the meantime, I've started on Chapter 18. The first scene is a Kelly and Emma scene, but it's one that's extremely hard to get right. And trying to get it right has so far been a pain in the ass. There's always a balance I have to try and find in the Emma scenes, and even more so in this one.

Coming up in Chapter 18, things get a little tense. There's a hospital scene, which also includes the introduction of Lindsey. There's a Diner scene, which also includes the introduction of Kelsie. And the chapter finishes off with a Kelly and Alyssa scene that continues right on into Chapter 19, which is the chapter I never finished. Once I do finish it, though, a bell will be struck that can't be unstruck, and I have to figure out a few things storywise and character-wise.

But I'm working on it.