I’ve already started editing the second draft of Starforgers this weekend. I have to do at least a couple of chapters a day to finish inside August. At least that’s my goal. Hopefully I won’t get too bogged down in changes to blow that pace. Most of the things that need changing are minor and can be fixed with just a few sentences. What will take me longer is the attention to details and making sure the main character arcs are established.
My Beta Readers have contributed many suggested changes and so my hit list is over a page long. Which is typical. Although there are far fewer changes with this novel than there were with Tyrmia. Which is in part due to my familiarity with the story before going into it.
My lunch hours at work will be tied up doing these edits as well as an hour every evening at home. A book is written in the first draft, but it’s turned into a novel in the second draft. Careful reading, rereading and rewriting makes this effort much tougher than the first draft. In the first draft you are allowed to make mistakes and go off on wild tangents. In the second draft you have to reel yourself in and whip those raw elements into a story that makes sense.
Several readers have made the comment that this novel is my most commercial yet. That’s good to hear. It’s the fourth novel I have written to date and the third in the Sci-Fi genre. I really had a bunch of fun writing Starforgers and I can’t wait to get it out to my fans. Both of them will love it. ;-)