June 2022 Newsletter - Over And Over Again

This month marked a pretty important event for me. While I finished writing the first draft of my book Awakening at the end of last year, I was not done, not even close. The next few months were a little slow, despite the fact that my family moved a few times leaving me unable to do anything video-wise.

But in recent weeks, I have been putting up chapters on a third-party platform full of readers and fellow writers who were willing to critique the various chapters of my story. Some only reviewed a few sections, but others have stuck around and been critiquing the entire story. As of now every single chapter is up on this site, and every chapter has at least one review with some very helpful feedback.

The first draft of Awakening was the written draft in my notebook. The second was typing it up and editing as I went along (trust me, lots of grammatical errors were caught as well as varying story bits). The third and more finalized draft resulted from the feedback I received from fellow writers, and in many cases the edits that came from there resulted in me looking at previous chapters and editing those as well.

Finally, the fourth draft comes when I review one more time taking into account previous drafts and feedback, and polish out the chapter. Once I feel I cannot do any more, I publish it on the site Wattpad for all to view. This entire process is both cyclical, and repetitive. Not to mention time-consuming.

And this is very normal for the writing process, especially concerning works/pieces that will be published to the public. Written pieces for one's own self doesn't usually have these stages. But for those looking to release their writing on a reputable platform or even through an officially publishing company have a lot of work cut out for them. A big hurdle that some must overcome is the constant drafting, reviewing, and sometimes asking for third-party critiquers. It often takes significantly more time than actually writing out or even planning the story.

More often than not, the story you started out with will not be the same one you end up with in the final stages.

Characters change, so do plots and events. Though, not always. I planned a lot of Awakening initially, enough to the point that I knew what most of the chapters would be titled and the major events that occurred. But even during the writing process I ended up scrapping an entire chapter because it simply didn't fit the story. An event occurred in that chapter that simply would have had more impact towards the end of the book, not the beginning-to-middle part where I initially placed it.

I also placed some more emphasis on some of the supporting characters as I was writing. June, Amelia, and Cameron in particular each got more spotlight than what I initially planned for in the pre-writing stages. I realized as I was writing that his friends are a big reason for why Blake does what he does; he is a caring and compassionate individual who does love his friends, his family, and his home, as it's all he's ever known. His desire to know and help and protect them is a major recurrence across Awakening that, based on reader feedback, is an element that is noticeable and can even be felt by some readers.

There is no such thing as writing a perfect story. But, writers can write good stories regardless. Whether you're good or bad, amateur or professional, stringent or lax, the fact of the matter is that every story goes through many changes and revisions. But it's not something to be discouraged by. We can learn from each draft, each review, each mistake, and each strength or weakness.

It seems like a pain in the arse, and it can be. But it's also a lot of fun learning about ourselves, our writing styles, and even our own stories. I've read through Awakening over and over again, but I never tire of the story even as it keeps updating and changing. Because I love this story, these characters, and this world very much.