Welcome, one and all, to the 4th of July Spectacular Archefire Newsletter – one of my favorites of the year, because we get to gloat about beating the Brits 250 years ago! It is rather unfortunate that our method of celebration is anathema to trigger-happy Schnauzers and sleeping toddlers, but that's the price we must pay. Freedom isn't free. It's paid for with one night of ceaseless barking and crying babies.
Ahh... if only it were limited to one night per year...
Despite the rather chaotic state of the world, I really do love America. I like to view our foundling country as a sort of first draft, one that started off imperfectly and has generally improved over time. There will always be more problems to solve, some eras where things are backsliding, and ways in which our country fails to live up to our ideals.
Still, the framework and values our Founding Fathers instilled in this nation are some of the best work humanity has ever done. Our forebears won our independence and established a damn good first draft. It's up to us to continue the story into the future, to make our ancestors proud and our descendants grateful.
Which brings me, naturally, to revision.
Sibling Suns 3
Thankfully, revising a book is just a little bit easier than governing a nation. Even a bittersweet book about collapsing empires and what survives after the fall. I know, hard to believe! If you read last month's Odyssey of JoshSE, you'll know the first draft is complete! That means we've entered the revision guide era.
A few days ago, I finished reading the first draft in the Kindle app – which included classifying every chapter by revision intensity and leaving over 700(!) notes for myself. Many chapters need just a light polish pass. Others need a heavier touch. And a few... well, they still need to be fully written.
Don't worry, this isn't a panic situation. It's normal "turn the draft into an actual book" stuff. Writing entirely new chapters is par for the course.
The next step is to distill all of those notes into one glorious revision guide, which will range somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 words. That will essentially be the battle plan for the next draft, including major changes that will sweep across many chapters and minor tweaks that could be as simple as fixing a clunky sentence. The goal is to finish that in the next two weeks, then I'll be off to the races with AFTS 2.0!
In last July's newsletter, after the first month of writing the first draft, I said "it feels really good to be back to working on a first draft." Now, exactly one year later, I'm saying it: it feels really good to be back to editing. Most writers I know love the drafting process, but for me, editing is where I feel most in command. This is the stage where the vision really comes to life!
Reading the first draft is always a little bit painful, especially when a chapter really isn't working – and there are a few of those, as always. But I've got most of what I need to make this finale not just satisfying, nay, but genuinely excellent!
I am curious: what makes a series finale great for you? Reply or leave a comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Long, Bark, and Handsome
Nazgul has been like the rest of us, trying to stay cool during this intense heat wave. That means lots of lying on the couch in the air conditioning.
But then he gets cold and wants to go lay in the sun...
Tonight he'll be curling up and trying to hide from the fireworks... or more likely, raring to go attack whatever made that big boom!
He also helped me finish the Lego set Rachel got me for my birthday. And by "helped me" I mean he didn't eat any of the pieces that I clumsily dropped on the floor.
That's going to be it for this month! I hope any of you celebrating with small children and dogs find some reprieve from the loud noises tonight. I'll be back next month with an update on how the revisions are coming along. Until then!
As always, thanks for reading!
— Josh