Acts of War: Aftershock – Week 10 Update
Now that the first draft of Acts of War: Aftershock is complete, I’m busy doing my initial read-through and proof. These updates will change a little from the ones you’ve been reading, and we’ll focus more on the revision and editing process. In addition, I’ll bring to light some other goodies in the near future, like the cover art and longer excerpts.
Okay, here’s what I got up to in week ten.
Progress: I made it through 150 manuscript pages in my first read-through/proofing run. I’ve got about 270 left to go, which I’ll finish this week.
The Best Part: Hey, it’s not terrible. So, here’s the thing; you write the first draft of novel in a vacuum of sorts (usually), with little outside input. After months of work, you end up with a giant manuscript, and a lingering question: What the hell did I just write? I always begin my initial read-through with a strong sense of trepidation—fear, really—that what I’ve written is a train wreck of epic proportions. Then, I get about twenty pages in, and I feel better because it’s not a train wreck. It’s not perfect, sure, but all the preparation I did with the outline has paid off, and the story is more or less what I’d hoped it would be. Don’t get me wrong; there’s a lot of fine-tuning left to do, but I’m happy with the first draft so far.
The Hard Part: How the hell did I miss that? So, while the first draft might not be a train wreck, it is currently riddled with mistakes I’m fixing as I go along. Most of these are garden-variety continuity errors, both story and setting, which are unavoidable in a story this size. I’m talking about stuff like, oh, right, Khador spell runes are blue (I always want to make them red), or, wait a minute, which of Magnus’ arms in mechanikal? Now, there’s no way I’ll catch all of these, but I’m confident the editorial team at Privateer will catch the rest (and a hundred other things).
Mini Excerpt: Today’s mini-excerpt focuses again on one of the antagonists in the story, Assault Kommander Strakhov, and some of his more specialized troops. Today’s concept art features Strakhov’s favorite soldiers, the Assault Kommandos, of which there are many in the book.
Strakhov walked down the short corridor that held the citadel’s prison cells. There were six, but only two were occupied. He could hear the battle below, though it did not concern him at the moment. The Resistance and their Cygnaran allies would almost certainly take the courtyard, as they were meant to, but gaining entrance into the citadel itself would be much more difficult.
Behind him came his aides-de-camp for this mission, a man and a woman who had distinguished themselves in combat many times over. They were nominally of the Assault Kommando Corps, though their black armor and the new Death Whisper carbines they carried indicated more specialized training. They had names and ranks, but such things were not particularly beneficial for the kind of work he called on them to do. He simply referred to the woman as Shepta, Whisper, and the man as Nev, Wrath.
Looks like Strakhov has some new heavy hitters. Wonder what they’re up to? More on that soon!
If you have a question or comment about the book or my writing process, ask away in the comments section below. And if you’ve missed the updates for the previous weeks, you can find them right here:
- Week 1 Update
- Week 2 Update
- Week 3 Update
- Week 4 Update
- Week 5 Update
- Week 6 Update
- Week 7 Update
- Week 8 Update
- Week 9 Update
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Check out the first book in this series, Acts of War: Flashpoint, if you haven’t already. You can get the e-book at 25% off from the Skull Island eXpeditions website by entering the code ACTSOFWAR1 at checkout.
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