Twenty-five days after I started incorporating my comments into the second draft, I am very happy to announce that the process has been completed! It’s been a long time coming, especially since I feel like I’ve been spinning my wheels since January!

The biggest changes I’ve made have been to the structure, dropping from thirty-nine ‘chapters’ – which were, in all reality, just scenes – down to seventeen chapters. These collect all the scenes that happen on a particular day and flow together properly, rather than as in one instance, three short scenes, which are all part of one particular plot point, being separated out as chapters.

There was surprisingly little change to the word count though, the story is now some 256 words shorter, assuming that Scrivener and Word count the same way, which I’m sure they don’t.

I’m Off Down the Epub…

I intend to pull together everything I learn about using Scrivener into one section of this site. Right now, I’m totally new to it, so my How-To section would read simply:

Dunno mate…

But, my Alpha Reader wants this thing in an epub format and, Scrivener can do that quite easily. Now, figuring things out on Scrivener seems to be a bit of a challenge, which is why I think a lot of review videos on YouTube describe it as having a ‘steep learning curve.’ It took me a while to find how to compile properly as an epub, so I can sympathize with anyone who dislikes it because of its structure or front end.

I’ll refrain from making more comments on Scrivener until I’ve worked with it enough to give a meaningful review.

Reading Aloud.

I don’t remember who, but someone on a YouTube video recommended reading your work aloud to yourself. It feels a little silly to do that, mostly because you’re reading your own work, but I think it’s a worthwhile exercise which I intend to conduct when I’ve completed the third edit cycle and ahead of moving to Beta Readers.

For now, I’ve found that Microsoft Edge will read aloud for me, and it’s illuminating to hear the errors that are in it despite three drafting efforts. These errors are easier to spot with a fresh mind – would that I ever have one of those – which is one reason why taking a break between drafts is a good idea. It’s also a reminder not to rely as heavily as I seem to have on spell checkers.

Apparently ot is a valid word, rather than a misspelling of to.

At any rate, I’m banking on a lot of latitude from my Alpha Reader when it comes to forgiving typos and other gremlins. Particularly if she wants me to keep doing her laundry and making her breakfast…

Up Next…

This week I need to pull together a set of ‘interview’ questions for my Alpha Reader to answer after she makes it to the end of each chapter. Then, hopefully by Friday, I can have everything ready to go to find out the thoughts and opinions of the first other human being to read my story.

If that gets done early, then I intend on getting ready to outline the Black Box Factory, so I should have some details on how that’s going. The odds are that the title, Black Box Factory, is going to change, as is that of The Old Man to be honest, but they’ll do as working titles for now. My issue is that Black Box Factory breaks down into two separate stories, so I may have to think of a way to distinguish one from the other.

Other than that, there’s a lot of housekeeping to be done about the place. Nothing has happened with the mini-barn for months, the new shed needs to be organized, the garden is full of weeds, the tax return needs to be completed, and I’m just one more warm sunny day from needing to mow for the first time this year.

Still, I’m done with the third edit cycle!!!

How awesome is that!

Have a great week!

Categories: Revision, The Old Man, Work Update, Writing