Doleful Creatures -- Story Arc

In case you've been waiting (or not) I've got a story arc now for Doleful Creatures -- meant to help me doctor this thing through the fifth revision. If you can't read my hen scratching, don't worry. I probably won't be able to read it in a few hours anyway. The stuff in red is new to the book.

Good news is the fifth revision is actually going quite well. I'm about halfway through the manuscript and I have cut nineteen chapters. That wounds like a not (and it is, don't get me wrong) but the book will be the better for it. Here's my procedure for here on out:

Finish a quick "look-see" revision to the book, cutting here and adjusting there. Then I read it again and, more importantly, hand it to my daughter to read. I'm kind of aiming this book towards the YA market, so having a child in that age group is a bonus as I look for beta readers. Then I ask her about it. How it compares to other books she's read. Where it needs to be fixed. Because I have no illusions that it won't need more fixing. I'm optimistic.