A Writer's Notebook, Day One-Thousand-Five-Hundred-And-Five

I am still not certain how to start this new novel I am intending to begin working on when I finish the story I am currently writing.  I know that I am close to the end on that story, but I still only have a general sense about the new novel, really.  I have a lot that I know in terms of the general plot, but there are still a number of aspects that need to be pinned down.  I have two conflicting ideas of how the story could be done, one involving a whole secondary layer, and I am not certain if that second aspect is too much or if it will work.  In some ways, I think it is just convoluted and I am not certain if it would just be a distraction, but on the other, it might be the thing that brings the book to life in a real way for me, which seems just a bit important.  I am wondering if I can find another way in that feels more organic to the story itself, or, alternately, if I can find a way to make this idea feel more connected to the central premise of the novel.  There might be a way, I think.  I want to trust myself that I wouldn't have thought of these connections if there isn't something real in it.

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