Ryan Rimmel
patreon
First Drafts
🕑 Added 2023-04-14 01:53:57 +0000 UTCSo I just finished a first draft. What happens now? Well, first you go through and figure out what the book does well, what it does poorly, and what needs worked on. Second you check out the themese presented, and then start hammering them so they look a lot shinier.
Next you weave in things you realize you missed during the intial process. For example, during the initial training montage I want to encorporate Justice giving instruction more. I want to add in Tim talking about the Justice Podcast, where Justice continously talks about stuff and Tim kind of ignores him. I want to nail down that when Jim is in 'knight' mode he's basically trying to describe what would Justice do?
Next is Tim and Justice. When I'm drafting, I dont' have a great feel for the characters. Now that I've written the book, I can more clearly isolate what works for the characters and make sure that is more front and center.
Tim, for example is deliberate and cynical. He's also driven to save his sister. When he talks, he needs to show off thos points. Justice is innocent and hopeful, kind of the opposite of Tim in that respect. Justice is also mission driven, they just have a different mission. Note; For you Noobtown fans... this is where I actually start trying to make the book funny, up till now any humor is purely incidental.
I also need to work on the secondary cast. I'm going to go for 'not SueLeeta' for Elana, which means she's probably going to end up being a knife figher who sometimes uses a bow. I need to have a more will they/won't they thing going on there.
Check the systems, make sure everything is understandable, and the like. Book is also like 12k words short of my expected endpoint, but that should be easy to include when I get to editing. I'll figure out a weak point and jam a scene in somewhere. Probably when Tim is out camping in the wilderness.
Then sit on the book for several weeks while 100% totally ignoring it like it never existed while I try to forget I even wrote it. Then I reread it.
Comments
Ryan Rimmel
Yup, I rewrote the ending because it was kind of hanging there. If I don't know how to end something I tend to leave it hanging in early drafts and wait until I am inspired to write it in later. Now the ending is with him getting stuff he can use to help (not fully heal) his sister and going back to earth. Book 2 will start off on Earth but returning fairly quickly.
David Barnes
Please tell me he catches the orcs and returns to Earth. I'd love to see the improved MC back in his world.
