Breakthrough

Well, it’s not an advert for the Queen song, but you check it out, it’s good and pertinent!

I’ve been ripping apart Rebellion of Mars and reading through the report of my Editor, Hannah. She gives a lot of great guidance about Protagonist Agency. This is important, because instead of being a victim to circumstance, it makes the Protag an actor under his own power.

This does two things.

Firstly, it makes it more interesting to read and write, building character connection with audience and author. We can start to root for them, to feel as they do, hope for them and see what happens.

Secondly, it allows for better set up and payoff – the character takes an action, it has logical consequences and thereby builds momentum for the story as well, increasing pace and keeping those pages turning.

So, the third draft, kind of, is underway at the moment. I can feel the story is now unfolding into the way it wants to be told, as opposed to the way I wanted to initially tell it. It’s a bit m ore natural and presents more options to me, but the Protag character has shifted slightly, so I’m trying to nail him back down.

It’s all swings and roundabouts folks!

In other news, I’m waiting to hear from my other editor, who is due to send me an interim note tomorrow about how she’s finding Children of the Glyph, which I expect back with a complete report on 03 April. Getting close now.

Stay safe, take care and try to keep going adventurers! 🙂