A few days ago, just as I was reaching 100K words, I had a sudden realization -- what I thought would be a single novel (the first in a series) really needs to be two separate novels (the first and second of the series). Not only was I at 100K words when I was less than 2/3 of the way through the storyline but, once I began to think about splitting it into two books, I could see that this will really clarify the narrative and character arcs in both novels. In the first book, the story hinges on the tension between the growing romance between my lead and her beau and the danger she finds herself in. This gets resolved when the young lovers get married just as they also find a way out of danger.
In the second book (working title: At Sea Among the Stars), my newlyweds have just joined fifty other young couples in a super-secret planetary settlement project. As they journey toward their new home, there will be lots of new complications as they try to mold the group of settlers into a team, deal with tensions in their new marriage, and struggle to survive a deadly stealth attack. In a secondary plot, there will be more human drama as the young priest acting as chaplain and ship's doctor to the group finds he's getting a little too attached to Stella, who is having some identity problems of her own (Pinocchio, call home).
But all that will have to wait awhile, because book one will need some careful revision before I move on to book two. Stay tuned!