I am officially 676 words into Chapter Two. (See Fiction Novel Update… Eurphoric Uncertainty) I mention the word count because it seems like an impossibility. I have been working on, ruminating and procrastinating over this chapter for days, and I only have 676 words?! Sure, I’ve read and reread them, updating, finessing, editing and adding to them. But it seems like I should have more to show for it.

The joy of this chapter is that it is about my Impact character, Mike Hayden, father to Treva and Liam Hayden. The chapter is written like the first–one day after the funeral of Mike’s wife Camille. The entire novel is third person, however, the narrative voice complements the character in action.

Since Chapter Two introduces Mike’s journey (it is “his chapter” so to speak), the narrative is in his voice. I’m having so much fun with it! I love writing in Mike’ s voice because it helps me to more fully understand him,breathe life into him, and make his thoughts and actions realistic. To be sure, he isn’t very happy. He’s just lost the love of his life, his brilliant daughter wants to follow in his less-than-spectacular footsteps, and his attached-to-his-mother’s-apronstrings son wants nothing to do with him. To make matters worse, we find him engaged in his least favorite task–bidding on trade-ins at his rival dealership, Langley’s Mile of Cars.

My driving force of my story was originally going to be son Liam. I had chosen a title I was completely satisfied with…until I discovered that the story would be more dynamic from the perspective of Mike and Treva’s relationship. So, I’m left tossing about title ideas again. Here are my top choices–what do you prefer?

[polldaddy poll=3198384]