This week, now that I’m no longer sick and I’m no longer amazingly focused on COH, I’m doing editorial passes on anachronauts stories. I said I was going to be doing this before, but being floored with a really horrid cold plus distracted by the launch of brand new stuff in City of Heroes was a one-two punch of procrastination and horror that kinda screwed those plans up.
I feel lousy for being such a lazy author, but it is what it is. Time to actually do the right thing and finish those editorial passes. (I’ve already finished one for stars fall 00, but then realized I haven’t done sa08 or sa09, even. Wow.)
For folks who are new, what I do is post “drafts in progress” and collect feedback for each batch of new scenes. Then, at a point in the future, I do an “editorial pass” where I read through the story, make tweaks for word choice and flow, take all the feedback I’ve collected and alter the story accordingly, do a proof read, and declare it final. This final story is what gets collected into the paperback books (usually with a few additional spelling fixes I miss the first time around, um, oops).
The problem is that this makes things EXCITING! during the draft stage, and BORING! during the editorial stage. It’s gruntwork and the end result is not brand new content for you to enjoy. But, on the plus side, folks who avoid drafts finally get their hands on the finished content.
So, apologies for the month of really slow progress followed by dull editorial work. We’re coming into the home stretch, two chapters to go.
After that…
After that, I’m taking a break again, likely. But I DO have ideas. I’ve always got ideas. And if you keep tabs on this blog, you’ll be in on the ground floor when the next project launches. Don’t lose track of it — nothing sucks more than your friends going “What, you didn’t KNOW about that thing he’s doing now?” and having to play catch-up.
NeoVid says
Speaking of CoH, many factors converging at once means I’m finally able to play it after all this time. I’m on Virtue, and I could use a hand, since everything I know about the game is waaaay out of date by now… plus, any multiplayer game is much better when playing with people you know, instead of random aholes on the net.
My chat name, shockingly, is @NeoVid.
Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne says
Excellent. I’m @Twoflower there, surprising no one. I think you may need a certain level of premium status before you can send me a /gfriend request, but things can be arranged.
Tom Russell (@tomwrussell) says
Stefan,
I just finished reading sf03 – The Bastille. This it the first time I’ve commented, though I’ve read every anachronauts post to this point. Great stuff, really. I am very much looking forward to the next chapter. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Carrie, though. I love her story. I hope we get to see more of her soon. I was devastated when Una got soul-snatched.
Keep it up.
Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne says
Thanks. :D I’m glad to hear some folks are catching up in the story and enjoying it. Thank you so much for your comment!