Things have been going so well over the past few weeks, something had to give. While the edit is just getting better and better and the writing of the new version of Architurus is developing nicely, work (my day job) goes from bad to worse as half my colleagues are being made redundant (including Bill, who’s working on the SToA web site for me). Most depressing.

Plotting the new version of Architurus seems easier than it ever did before, but I suppose I’ve played with Dramatica long enough to know when to let it lead me and when I need to think laterally to get the best out of it.

The big breakthrough for me this time is that I’ve manged to distil the core theme of the story down to one statement, something I’ve never been able to do before, so building it up again is easy as everything is being scrutinised against that statement. If an idea doesn’t relate to the theme, it goes.

I’m quite surprised at what’s stuck and what’s been dropped, but I feel so much more confident I’m heading for a decent first draft that won’t disappear off beyond 300 pages with no end in sight.

Working on SToA has really taught me how to be merciless in my writing and editing. Occasionally I go too far, but it soon becomes apparent and is easy to reclaim the wanted children back from the orphanage.

No word back from the Screen South gang so far, but I’m growing more confident in my abilities as an editor, so I’m not sure I need them quite yet.