I reached 50,000 words in what I had originally planned as a re-write of The Quest For The Chalice today, which to some may seem rather rapid: only a week ago, I was at 20,000 words and going slow, re-writing away. I wasn't even in Ch. 4, in which the chapter the first big battle of the series occurred.
After a few more days, I've gotten to the point where re-writing from scratch is a waste of time, as there is quite a bit of good story that I can salvage. And that's something that I consider as a good thing!
When I started the project a month ago, if you'll recall, I wanted to re-write a great deal of this book, seeing as I had believed that the writing in it wasn't exactly my best. As it turned out, it was the writing in the first few chapters of the old version that wasn't the best; now that I'm in Ch. 9 of the original version (which has become Ch. 16 in this new version), the writing is better (at least I think so), the descriptions just a touch crisper, than in the first few chapters; I've noticed that in books that I've edited, where a majority of the problems are located in the first few chapters. The only thing I'm taking out now is head-hopping and writing out the passive voice, making the actions stronger and active.
There was, however, quite a bit of passive voice in the old version, which I thought my editor at the time had removed back in 2009. The editor had assured me that it was gone. I'm shrugging, moving on, and reminding myself that I am better for this endeavor.
If I stay focused, Quest's new first draft will be done by the end of the month. Then I'll move on to The Return To Lowbridge (remember that Labergator, the dwarven homeland, has changed to Lowbridge) in February, with The Fall of Myrindar right after. I don't believe that I have to add any more of the short stories to Quest. It will be long enough with what I've added.
We'll update closer to the end.
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