Fractal War: Third Draft Complete!

In my post when I was about to set out on this third draft, I outlined the sort of changes I was expecting, highlighting there were a couple of issues I wasn't sure about, but I knew the solution would come. Well, it did. I ended up making the most changes I've ever made in a third draft.

It started out quite straightforward. There was one anomaly in the second draft that also existed in Fractal Peace: at times, it felt like Alana Curst was operating on a shoestring, with no resources to help, whereas at other times, she had a whole army working for her.

There was an easy fix for that. Her previously unnamed aide's role expanded significantly. Now called Kurt, he became a lynchpin of her organisation without having too much of a speaking part. That will change. He'll fit nicely into the third novel, Fractal Legacy.

His introduction fixed many issues throughout and opened up too many possibilities. At first, they were minor. Part one, now called Inception, expanded a little, mainly by added texture and character work:

The changes began to increase as I reached the end of part two, now called Elaboration. Previously, the last chapter was mainly from Novak's perspective, with a closing scene for Curst. Novak's story needed significant extra content to do her justice, and I realised that Curst's scene would be a better way to start part three. So far, so good.

There was already a scene from Curst's perspective at the start of part three, Composition, so I joined the two together in a new chapter, writing an additional bridging scene between them. It was this new scene that changed everything.

It made me realise that all the information needed to formulate a key component of their plan, which only emerged later, was already available. So I brought it forward. It was brilliant, immediately fixing another issue I was worrying about. A couple of characters, especially Novak, didn't have enough justification for going to the place where the plot needed them to be. Now they did.

Even better, they had more work to do once they got there. Everything fitted. It had continual knock-on effects through the rest of part three and into part four, as other aspects of their plan were brought forward, but it was so much better for it. Oddly, it didn't significantly change the flow of the story, but it did make it more believable.

It set everything up perfectly for part four, Execution. This was where the fun really started. I'd already decided to rework Onga's and Polk's finales so that rather than be separate chapters, I'd interleave the scenes as they were happening in parallel. This opened up so many opportunities to flesh out critical parts of the story that had been implied. It was much more satisfying, taking three chapters instead of two. It included new scenes from Amina, Curst, and Polk. Everyone had a part to play in the end.

It also changed the nature of the final chapter, which was more of an epilogue in the second draft. It still is, but its primary purpose is to properly set up the final part of the trilogy, Fractal Legacy.

Now I've decided to make it a trilogy, it makes so much sense. Each book has its own focus, with a significant element left hanging that is resolved in the next one. I'd better wrap everything up in the third one now! I've decided to wait until the third one is finished and release them all together. That leaves the option open to tweak the first couple if I need to introduce or set up anything earlier.

The big news is that the word count that sat at 78,000 words after the second draft is now... 102,000. Gulp. I said I had fun.

So, what's next? Well, first, I'm expecting my son's latest novel tomorrow. I'm going to return the favour and criticise everything :) The difference is, he's usually right.

Once that's done (along with the housework I've neglected while working on this draft), I'll give Fractal Peace and Fractal War one final pass. I'm sure I've broken something along the way. I won't do anything more than fix any issues I encounter. This should create the final(ish) draft.

After that, I'll take what I've learnt and do a little replanning on the opening of Fractal Legacy. Kurt needs to find his time in the sun in the first part. I'll follow my usual approach of writing three or four chapters, take a step back, and see if I'm happy. That's probably when you'll hear from me next.

That's unless I get carried away on the final draft of the first two novels. Watch this space...