Triptych Third Draft Plans

I timed the second draft of The Pantheon Triptych perfectly, arriving in my son's inbox when he had time to jump straight on it. I've just received the feedback needed to begin work on the third draft. Even better, he's visiting in a couple of days, so we can discuss it in person.

It confirmed a few of my worries, and gave me enough information to devise a plan to fix them. I'd already decided to change around the events of the first three chapters, and I'm now convinced I need to go a bit further.

As I expected, there's nothing significant to change in Katsu's and Tomlin's linear stories. Details need tweaking, particularly thanks to a false impression I gave of Tomlin's character and Temani's society, but nothing too onerous. That'll be a routine process.

Steffan's thread will be more of a challenge. That's no great surprise, given the first-person framing, telling of events in the present combined with non-linear flashbacks to events that shaped his life. It was great fun to write – but a little too confusing to read.

It had a few knock-on effects where the narrative didn't interact with the other threads as well as I hoped. The structure also gave the impression that the ending was rushed, even though, for the most part, it wasn't.

My solution? Throw it away and start again. And I'm only partly joking!

Little will be wasted, however. Steffan's story effectively comprises four elements:

• Flashbacks to formative events

• Events that happen while he's writing his journal

• The closing events once all the characters have met

• Current-day framing holding the elements above together

I'm going to start by stripping these out into four chronological threads. The last framing element is what will change most. The rest need tweaking, but will often be reused within the new framing. I may delete a couple of small scenes, and also add some new ones, especially to bring out Rurik's character better. I'll add Malik into a couple of scenes with Rurik to help this too.

I'm really looking forward to this! It'll be a bit like a jigsaw puzzle where you have to colour in the edge pieces yourself first. I plan on starting the third draft early next week. I'll start with the Katsu and Tomlin threads first, and use them as fixed points around which to weave the new Steffan narrative.

I haven't been idle in the meantime. I've written a new short story called Prior Enragement, partly to have fun in a world that might be an interesting place to write a novel. I think I've decided to put a longer story on the back burner for now, as I have something else I'm considering, more on that once I've finished Triptych.

However, I'm so glad I've written this short story. It's just over 7,000 words, and contains some of the worst puns I've ever made. I've sent it to my son for feedback, mainly to annoy him. I can hear his groans from here.

I haven't decided what to do with it once I've made a final update. I expect I'll make it available on my website to spread the pain. You've been warned.

Right. I'll provide an update once Katsu's and Tomlin's stories have been updated. First, I have to tear everything apart...