Hello friends!
In my humble opinion, one of the best writer feelings is finishing a draft. Especially when I’ve put a lot of work into AND I finish ahead of schedule.
Which is to say, I finished the fourth full draft of Scion of Victory over this week. My goal was to finish the draft by the end of May, so I’m about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. I feel good about this draft for a few reasons:
- It has a brand-new, never-before-seen beginning (technically this draft has 2 different beginnings).
- I cut several plot points that didn’t add much to the story and/or created unnecessary drama.
- I strengthened Eva’s development and gave her a more defined goal to work towards.
- I added more dimension to Kita and explored her romance with Fahvitt in different ways.
Because I worked through this draft by separating chapters according to narrator, I am currently doing “reassembly.” I typically write straight through the narrative, so this step is new for me. Once I’m satisfied with the order, I’ll read through the manuscript for cohesiveness and consistency. Then, I’ll be sending it off to my stellar writing buddy for her in-depth critique, as well as sharing it with my local writing group so they can tear it apart.
After that, I’ll incorporate any necessary edits (without doing another full rewrite). And then, it’ll be time to send my baby out into the world!
I had definitely planned to post about giving critiques this week, but finishing this draft was just too exciting not to share.
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What I wrote this week: Draft 4, Kita’s arc.
What I read this week: The Wicked King by Holly Black; Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall.
Belinda McCauley 