Arc Plotting for Fun and Profit

One tip from Writing 21st Century Fiction: if your story is two or three or four different kinds of stories threaded together, plot out each story arc individually to make sure it is rich enough (and makes enough sense) to be a story on its own. 

I have three story arcs in TOB: a Political Intrigue arc, a Coming-of-Age arc, and a Romance arc. Today I mapped out the Coming-of-Age and Romance arcs, and was pleased to see that aside from a little Act III shuffling I already knew I'd have to do, both arcs are pretty sound already. I think the Political Intrigue arc is going to need some real rethinking, though. I have some logic holes going on there. We'll see when I get to work on it tomorrow.