Kumiko novel - first draft quandary - have to rewrite Kumiko the character...

I'm about 12,000 words into the first draft of the Kumiko (war world #3) novel, that's 6,500 words of chapter text and 5,500 words of notes and potential narrative direction.

I'm writing away, as you do, you know, not really worrying about story just yet, simply writing to character, fleshing out the basic sketch, and Kumiko (this novel's central character) keeps talking about Millgate and Lorien and G3 and all the stuff in Watcher (war world #2) and I just realised something...

KUMIKO ONLY WORKS IF SHE KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT WATCHER.

She can't know these people yet, that doesn't make sense. She'll have to be interfacing with the worlds of G3 and Millgate and Lorien (especially as the author of the Dierdre Openhouse novel herself) for the first time, devoid of all narrative involvement at this stage. I mean, it makes it more difficult for me, the writer, but who said this shit was supposed to be easy?

Having decided this, it certainly gives the end of Watcher more poignancy, unfortunately, it means I have to go back into this third war world novel and start again as a new draft where Kumiko doesn't know anything about War World or G3 or even Millgate (or Lorien), Kumiko's a key part of the G3/War World narrative, we understand that, but we don't understand why she does what she does at the end of Watcher or what her role is in the Grand Chess Game.

She'll have to be doing it for purely romantic/misguided/as-yet-unresolved reasons; she'll have to be ENSNARED or SEDUCED then BETRAYED for this book to make any sense.


DAY LATER UPDATE: woke up from yesterday's re-assessment and I'm like... wow, is that what's needed? And, yes, I think it is. Though it pains me to do this. I'll have to restart KUMIKO and do it right this time, it has to be about misplaced loyalties, nothing else will suffice. Sigh... rolls up sleeves. Onward.


WEEK OR SO LATER UPDATE: so, I've worked out how I can get the most from this new-narrative direction forced upon the Kumiko novel. It's not so much that I've given in to it, it's just that now's the time to start exploring the world of Kumiko as the mourning period for the initial content has passed.

Currently say on 17,000 words of text, all useful, all imperative.