Howdy everyone,
I've been editing like a madman. I'm currently 14 chapters ahead on Patreon, and pushing for higher, further, faster. I'm also almost 18 chapters in, editing-wise. The edits have been interesting thus far. It's way more in-depth than I thought it would be, and because you guys have stuck with me for so long, I'm including them in the story so you don't have to go back to Patreon.
So far, I've had a few big changes:
I edited Walker's tirade against Nicholas. That was a big no-no from my publisher, so I tried to make it still seem realistic while not allowing Walker to abuse a child psychologically. It is not a fine line to walk, apparently. I've also made Mr. Harrison (Nobody) more ominous, less mysterious, and way more manic.
The writing is much cleaner, more transparent, and to me, more realistic than it was originally. The goal of every edit isn't to add information, but to add clarity and better provide my character with a voice of his own. I'm not 100% certain I've done a great job with it, but I am hopeful.
Thus far my editing moves in five phases.
1. Initial write-up
2. Quick fixes as I see them. Normally it takes me two days to write a chapter, so I head back and re-read my first portion before writing the second.
3. Final run-through before posting on Patreon and here. If my Patrons find a big error, they're normally nice enough to let me know, and I fix that before you guys see it.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
4. What I"m doing now. A second re-read when it's been almost a year since I originally wrote it, with my beta-readers going over it after the fact to nitpick every little thing.
5. Copyeditor goes through everything. This is the final step before publishing.
I'm trying to get the first book done by July 19th, with the second book's editing done by mid to late September. My publisher is pretty nice about it, but I'm on a strict deadline. School starts in the middle of August, and I'm a teacher. Maybe if enough people buy and enjoy my books, I can go into writing full-time, but then again, maybe not. It's a big hope for myself and virtually every author on here, but isn't 100% realistic. There's a lot of stories out there.
I'm placing a link to the first chapter here: Link
If you want to go back and re-read the first four chapters, please, be my guest. I'll also have a poll here for anyone to submit their opinion, and I'll read all comments posted, as always. The chapters don't have to be perfect, yet, as I'm hoping my copyeditor picks out the last of my errors.
I also want to give a big warning. Once the third book finishes, chapters will continue to post here (at least through September). But, once the third book is done, I'm going to push pause on the fourth book until the second is fully edited. It's very hard to edit a full book while also writing another. My mind is having trouble going back and forth between them. So to save myself some stress and anxiety, I'm pushing pause on Symphony until its done. I expect a month, but it may be a little longer as book two is way more complicated than book one.
That's all from me here. I hope you had an enjoyable fourth of July (Murica!). Thank you, as always, for reading.
p.s. all journal entries and holy scriptures will be shifted to the back of the first novel as optional reading. I've found it breaks the flow of the story too much