Book 1 - Version 3

Word Count: 49, 000
I started my current project a couple of months ago. It was going well and I reached around 55, 000 words.

Then I started to think. Is it really going well? The story had swerved away from my initial plan, which isn't always a bad thing but, looking back, the way in which I had told the story was dull. There were good bits in it, bits I would have loved to have kept but it wasn't the right style and so I made the brave decision to stop.

At this point, I still wanted most of the book. It needed a good tinker with but most of it was written. A bit of cutting and pasting, delete a few scenes, write a few more and then I'd be able to continue to that 80, 000 word mark.

I reached around 7, 000 words on version 2 when I realised it wasn't working.

So I stopped again. Completely this time and started Version 3 from scratch.

The focus of the book has changed and it is much closer to the orignal plot. The characters have been given a overhaul (in that they actually have a character now). Some have been scrapped, others added. It's a book I would want to read now.

It was scary starting again after so much time and effort had gone in but it was the right decsion. The plot, focus and characters have improved. I also kept the 'good bits' from the previous versions to recycle at a later date.

But now I have almost caught up with Version 1, I hope I do not start to think again...