Have begun the rewrite.

Actually, most of my 're-writing' has taken the form of adding new material to the first draft.

I'm taking advantage of the characters' longevity by adding flashbacks. This will allow me to:

1.) Add historical personages, who have had contact with the "dark."
2.) Develop the love relationship between the main character and the love of his life.
3.) Bring in scenes where I describe the creatures who will show up at the end.

Since the two overall themes of the book are to show the long process of "becoming human" and the long process of showing the demise of species -- of both worlds -- and the main character's efforts to save them, this flashback process allows me to show it happening, instead of telling.

I've had a blast incorporating historical characters into the scenes. And the two themes as well as the love story are going to add some depth and texture to the story.

The biggest problem with bringing in the new material isn't the new scenes themselves -- by definition, they pretty much hold up as distinct material.

No...it's the narrative and the explanations that are going to be hard to time -- to make all the connecting tissue in the right places and not repeat myself or give away too much in doing it.

I'm keeping the faith that I can be clever enough in the end to smooth all that out.