I’ve started the first revision pass on BECOME: TO RIDE THE STORM.
The first pass is usually mostly a read-through, maybe fixing small stuff and mostly getting a feel for what work needs to be done.
However, in this case, the first chapter was a train wreck. Well, maybe not that bad, and maybe no quite an infodump, but very much tell rather than show.
That first chapter had been added on the advice of one of my critique partners who’d read the early chapters. For a couple of reasons:
- Otherwise the book starts with a chapter from the point of view of a brand new character never even mentioned in the first book. Now the book starts in the POV of one of the major characters from BECOME: TO CATCH THE LIGHTNING.
- That critique partner felt that it was a good idea to provide the reader with a quick orientation as to where the story left off in the first book, since the first few chapters would be from the POV of characters who weren’t in the first book or were not important characters in that book.
So, I basically rewrote that chapter, adding in a little more conflict. Something I wouldn’t normally do during a rewrite. I’m not positive I’ve got it right, yet. But that’s why the revisions are a multi-step process. I do know it’s better than it was before.
From here, hopefully, the read-through will proceed more normally.
Meredith Mansfield, Author 