I’m currently running through the first draft of the third instalment of the Apocalypse series.
I must admit, I have felt some pressure on this one. I want to get it right – spot on right.
About 75% through the draft, I totally changed the direction of the ending. Everything I had imaged (in my very loose planning) changed in an instant. Why? Because the world I’d created through writing the story – those little parts of the journey – all added up to totally different direction than I had intended. I like this a lot. The story told me what to do rather than the other way around.
After finishing the draft, my thoughts were split between thinking I’d written something really good on one hand, to feeling there were pacing issues and inconsistencies on the other. Given I just ‘pants’ this series (write as I go with little to no planning), those pacing thoughts can be justified. And I have no intentions of rushing a story out if I’m not happy with it, so I was bracing for the potential of some significant surgery with this story. But, reading it back, I realise my concerns were just my mind playing tricks on me. I think the pacing is spot on.
I think I’ve got something really good here and if you like 1 and 2, then 3 is going to go next level.
So, this rewrite is really now about ensuring all those little inconsistencies in the story are tidied up, as well as paying-off all the things I’ve set up. They’re the details that make a good story even better in my opinion.
Anyway, I’ve nearly got my notes together and the rewrite can begin. Rewrite actually sounds rather dramatic, I’m not starting with a blank page – I’ve got a printed manuscript full of red pen and a word document that will be reworked with all these changes. Hopefully it’s a two-week process. After that – it’ll be ready for beta readers!
It’s getting close.
