I finally finished chapter 15 yesterday afternoon on the ride home. Whew! This chapter has gone through more revisions than all of the other chapters. I think part of the problem is that it’s a transition chapter; it’s not part of Act I (“Protagonists get in major trouble”) or Act II (“Protagonists get in deeper”). It’s a questionable little chapter (only 12 pages long, right now) that didn’t know what to do with itself. I’d considered writing the chapter from the POV of an until-now minor character; but so far, I’ve only had two protagonists. I don’t want to introduce a third, because there’s no part for this minor character beyond a certain point in this book.

And with the way the book has been written so far, there’s only room for two protagonists.

So, I didn’t know what to do with it. I knew I needed to get Protag Boy from his safe and cozy home to the wider world; I’d introduced the plot elements that make it necessary to leave CozyHome, and executed them; but getting him Out There was very, very difficult.

I may have cheated. But I’m going to keep slogging through this as is. Maybe I’ll come back to it in a while with a better idea and some rewrites.