Jaycee Woods

When drafting, I usually create a massively long story that I later have to break up. With Boudica and The Butcher most of the draft was created in two large chucks. When I broke the first chunk up, it became 16 chapters plus the beginning of another.

Creating digestible units of work from the large chunks of draft has made it easier to edit later. More importantly mapping out what has happened will helped me plan the next section of the novel.

Those chapters have the following break down:

1 – Harvest of Blood: While executing injured rebel soldiers on a recent battlefield, The Butcher captures two rebels (later known as Boudica & Asclepia).

2 – The Interrogation: The Butcher obtains intelligence on a nearby rebel base at the mill from his now conscious captive.

3 – A Slave: Recovering from her head injury, The Butcher’s new slave (a former rebel soldier) begins her duties.

4 – The Monster: While waiting for The Butcher’s return from the battle at the mill, his new slave is terrified by a bloody monster who appears at the tent entrance during a storm.

5 – The Morning After: As The Butcher returning from battle was the “monster,” the next day news of the battle and The Butcher’s new head injury are addressed.

6 – The Request: The Butcher’s yet unnamed slave asks him to reunite her with her girlfriend, who was likely captured at the battle of the mill.

7 – The Farce: The Butcher stages a reunion between his unnamed slave and her girlfriend in front of his men. As the unnamed slave gave the intel that led to the death of her girlfriend’s father & brothers, her girlfriend begs The Butcher’s permission to kill his unnamed slave, her former lover.

8 – The Aftermath: The unnamed slave deals with the consequences of her request, which almost cost her The Butcher’s protection. As he ignores her, she fears that the camp is full of former rebels who want her dead. Once he returns, as a convenience, he names her Boudica (a punishment name to remind himself that she is an untrustworthy rebel).

9 – The Mentor: Olga (the pregnant slave of The Butcher’s second-in-command Cyrus) instructs Boudica on her responsibilities as an officer’s slave.

10 – The Waiting: Olga and Boudica bond over their mutual fears as they wait for Cyrus & The Butcher to return from two separate concurrent battles.

11 – The War Council: After successfully clearing rebels from his sector, including seizing a Canadian smuggler depot on Lake Erie, The Butcher unveils his unsanctioned plan to siege a rebel city while his superiors delay in giving new orders. Afterwards Boudica protests in the name of “innocents” who will die in his plan to conquer a city by famine & disease; his response terrifies her.

12 – The Pain: While trying to establish emotional intimacy with her master, Boudica triggers the memory of The Butcher’s murdered wife & son, which explains his brutality & hatred of the rebels.

13 – A Slave Conspiracy: Wanting her master to love her, Boudica seeks advice from Olga. Boudica learns from Olga that The Butcher has been experiencing headaches and memory loss since his injury, which still leaves him blind in his swollen left eye. That he would tell his problems to Cyrus but not her worries Boudica.

14 – The Opening: Boudica applies Olga’s advice to successfully begin emotional intimacy with her master.

15 – The Dreams: Both The Butcher & Boudica experience dreams revealing inner thoughts that they have not verbalized.

16 – The Siege Begins: At the end of an active day, The Butcher talks to Boudica about his plans, orders, risks, & issues with besieging the city. Boudica has accepted Olga’s prior judgement that whatever brutality that ends the war sooner is necessary.

That is a lot of groundwork laid. Still have major events to write like actions during the siege, the assassination attempt against the Butcher including the death of Myles, convalescing at his parents’ farm, and his return for the fall of the city.