Draft Three in 18 Days

Submitted by Stuart on Tue, 06/01/2010 - 9:55am

I finally finished my second draft yesterday. Well, it could be labeled draft three or four, but I’ve decided all drafts prior to 2005 were drafts .0x. This draft mostly dealt with plugging plot holes, backfilling character changes, and smoothing out the prose. I’m really happy with how the story and characters build and develop now.

I had intended to cut more words during this pass, but while I cut about 15k words, I also added 9k words in new material. So, the current draft is sitting firmly at 192k. Still way too long for a first timer.

So, today I start my third official draft with a goal of cutting 10%. By doing about three chapters a day, this will take me eighteen days. Except for addressing comments from my fantastic beta readers, this draft will only address story length.

Ambitious? I hope not. I'm ready to start my next book.

Let’s see if I can finish this book by June 24th so I can start the next big phase for Echoes: Agent Quest.


Recent News

July, 22 2010

Echoes of Truth is revised and polished. I'm ready to start querying agents, the next step in seeing this novel published. In the meantime, work on the Condotierre is underway. I'm as excited to start this new book as I am to have finished my last.

September, 2 2008

SAEtter.com version 2.0, the Professional Edition is now live! Feel free to explore the new site and features.
About the Author

While reading The Fellowship of the Ring at the age of twelve, Stuart A. Etter was told by his teacher that he should be reading shorter books. Undaunted, he finished the trilogy and promptly moved on to other novels ranging from fantasy/sci-fi to historical fiction to horror to thrillers.

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Prologue: The Prisoner

Damion rubbed the dull ache of age from his hands. Countless years wielding a sword had strengthened his tendons and muscles, but time had worn them down, replacing power with chronic pain. Closing his eyes, Damion dreamed of his youth. Battle and victory marked most of his memories, but darker images tainted his successes, reminding him of his one great...

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