I've dicided to completly overhaul my plot. After a combination of inspiring works of art in New York and sleeping on it for 17 days now, I'm re-routing the story. All the major characters will be the same, they're just getting rearranged on the game board.

The seeds of change were planted when I was at the museum. Specifically with this painting that was in the 19th and 20th century European Painters wing at the museum in NYC.

The dominating color of this painting was very striking to me and was the first thing that caught my attention. Green is after all one of my favorite hues. But, it was the subject of the paining that planted the seeds of change for my plot. To me impressionism looks like a painted memory. And, this loving mother and father with their child in a setting of the simple life was the perfect childhood memory for my main character to reflect on in the first chapter of my novel.

Getting one litte idea like this always opens up a can of worms. Now I have a completly new road map of the plot in my head. There's almost too much of it to keep straight. Instead of jumping in at the first paragraph and shredding the plot beyond all recognition, I'm going to try to go about this in an organized manner. Before actually touching the manuscript, I've decided to go through the snowflake plot developement method again. Check it out here:

http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php

Being an engineer, I'm a fan of any method that involves orginazation using a spreadsheet like this one does. Of course this means I have a lot of work ahead of me. I'm basically going to rewrite my novel, minus a few of the key scenes. But I really do like this story line. It's one that has been floating around in my head for a year or two now. Hopefully this revision process won't pound my love for this plot to a pulp. I want this novel to survive.