Part 2 First Draft Revisions in RESONANCE

Well, today I completed the first draft revisions for "Part 2: The Island World" in Resonance. Toiled over these bad boys for a solid week. I can say that I am extremely pleased with Part 2. It's so different from Part 1. The pacing levels out and the world-building just explodes into a whole new level.

So I'm 183 pages through Resonance revisions. Only 67 more to go! I expect to add lots of scenes to the end, though, because while I was writing, I kind of summarized the ending rather than writing it all out (similar to how I wrote the first draft of Embassy).

Part 2 of Resonance

That doesn't go without saying that there are definitely plenty of things I need to concentrate on when I get to typing these revisions and working on future revisions. So what do I need to work on when I get to that?

Here's a list:

• Characterization -- I need to solidify the main group of characters. Arman, Glacia, Officer Remmit and some others are pretty good....but there are characters I definitely need to tighten up and at least give a little identifiable personalities to.
• Additional Scenes -- going through this, I found many parts where I thought, "Hey, I could totally stretch this and make it work into characterizing somebody!" or "This would be cool. Let's do it." There are also some parts that I just need to put in to keep the consistency of the story smooth.
• Physics/Astronomy Concepts -- I threw down my pen at one part. Literally threw it down. Why? Because I blew my mind with how focused some of the details were during some scenes with real-life physics. I need to tweak some things here and there, but for the most part, I amazed myself.

Those are the big things. A ton fewer things to focus on than in Part 1, right? Geez. *happy sigh* I should finish Part 3 by the end of the week.

Make sure you get your friends and family a copy of Embassy for Christmas!

Revisions for RESONANCE

This weekend I revised the entire PART ONE of Resonance, and today I reached Chapter 20, meaning I'm a little less than halfway through revisions!...in the course of about 5 days.

Wut.

Part 1 of Resonance

Things I've noticed I need to adjust:

• Chapters 1-6 and Chapters 16-18, I need to slow the pace down. Things fly by (or maybe I'm just reading really fast). No, I think the story is just hopping and skipping during these parts and not taking the time to develop. So I need to fix those up.
• The Archives Program is a bit shaky in terms of what the new program ACTUALLY does. I toss in all this jargon, but I feel like there still isn't a clear sense of why they need to revamp the program.
• Conferences and interviews for the archives program. Stuff happens -- important stuff -- but again, it flies by and isn't totally clear. I need to slow some of that down and let the program develop.
• Characters. Some new characters are introduced!....but I think the pacing forces them to run across the stage and say goodbye in the blink of an eye, particularly in Chapter 3. I'll be working on that.
• Personalities. Lon, Lon, Lon. He switched personalities halfway through the story, so I need to get him back on the original track. Gah. I hate when I mix characters' personalities up.

Those are the biggest things I've noticed revision-wise so far. I should knock out another few chapters tomorrow, hopefully hit the end of Part 2 before Friday. I'm loving it! But I also need to work on those few things....

Make sure you grab your copy of Embassy! Read, review, and share it with friends! Resonance will be available December 2015 or January 2016, so mark your calendars. You'll be able to pre-order during the summer.

100-for-100 Challenge

Today marks the first day of the Go Teen Writers 100-for-100 Challenge! From September 15 to December 23, you have to write at least 100 words a day, every day for 100 days. It's a great way to knock out 10,000 words!

Of course, my normal routine is 1,000 words a day, so hopefully I'll finish the first draft of Resonance during these hundred days!

Starting word count: 39,535 words

Goal for Resonance: 110-120,000 words

This is doable!

If you're in Go Teen Writers, what is your goal for the 100 days? If you're not in GTW, contests like this are always good incentive to get writing. Challenge yourself, keep a routine, and watch the words stack up.