The first draft of Planes Shifter was around 78,000 words, and comprised of a girl finding a bird of prey, and together, they find love and go home to claim the throne.
The second draft of Planes Shifter had all of the above, but this other realm suddenly existed, became a major focus, and she is chased by many people, and has a lot more challenges in her way.
Last week I began draft three. I have around forty changes to make. Some are as simple as “check if I’ve always capitalised North and South”. Others are a little bit more complicated, like “expand on Seren’s back-story, sharing his accident with Alina and having regular nightmares”.
Another one is “ensure each character has a personality”.
Yeah…. nice and precise.
Unfortunately, the latter types are the most common, comprising around 30 of the 40 changes. This is the down side of writing a novel in a month, and is the reason I chose to have four beta readers for this story. I chose a reader and a writer for the first set, and they’ve given much of their feedback to me now, so I can begin the revision process again.
I also have two more beta readers lined up for the read of draft three – two writers. If I can make the necessary changes well, that will put me on track for my goal of having draft four finished before the convention in October. Maybe even for the competition in September.
But it’s a long road, and having written the sequel already, I’m itching to get back to her actual life story. I began this part of Alina’s life in January 2012, and I’m getting a bit tired of how she used to be.
Through this set of revisions, I’m hoping to draw on aspects that will continue through the sequel, and thus allow me to build in that new depth I found when I continued the tale; to find again that love for her character that allowed me to write her experience and share it with my readers.