Third Drafts

Well, Saturday was a momentous day for me. After about six years of working on a book, I finally finished the third draft of 'The Silver Flower'. Those six years were not six straight years, but six years ago is when the idea first was put into my head.

It all started with a map drawn by a cousin. From there the story evolved. At first I kept it in a notebook, writing whenever I could-- or when I remembered to.

I remember that pages kept falling out, and getting lost. I changed types of notebooks to a spiral bound. At one point I lost the notebook (: --that probably accounts for a year in itself...

When it was found again, I decided it should be typed, so that it could not be lost again. Thankfully the computer never deleted my story!

When I finally finished the first draft, it was about 65 pages long. The climax was around page thirty. I had loved my characters so much I had not wanted it to end...

In my second draft I added a prologue, and took out about thirty pages. Many of the circumstances remained, but their length had shortened. I had gotten rid of the banal scenes, and changed a few of the others.

Then, about a year ago, I decided it was time to revise. Again. I took out most of the scenes, and condensed the rest. Of course, I still have a copy of all of them-- I cold never COMPLETELY delete them!

Saturday I finally transferred my written editions onto an electronic copy. It rests at twenty pages, with the climax on the second to last one.

It is time to put it in a drawer again until I can bring myself to take it out again-- with a large red pen at hand. : D