Triptych Third Draft: Steffan's Story Complete

That's the rework of Steffan's story as part of the triptych complete. That was fun! Most of the flashbacks and current day scenes needed minor to fairly major surgery, but the most significant change was where they were placed. Very few scenes stayed in the same chapters, which was quite something.

The story that emerged was both closer to what I was aiming for in the first place, and also much easier to follow. Win-win, as they say.

I ditched most of the framing that held the scenes together and rewrote it from scratch. It's much shorter and more punchy. Malik was slotted into a few more scenes, and his son, Malikovich, became less prominent. That's all to make it clear that Rurik is the main problem. Everyone else is collateral damage.

I wrote one entirely new chapter to cement this impression, which has the added bonus of setting up a new I need to write for the epilogue. Small scenes with Steffanov were cut, but will be repurposed in the chapters that come next.

All of that meant that the chapters had to be largely renamed. I've ended up with:

• The Bonds of Fealty

• The Source of Authority

• The Waning of Dominion

• The Limits of Selection

• The Growth of Respect

• The Line of Succession

• The Bonds of Sharing

• The Revelations of Youth

• The Avoidance of Duty

• The Myth of Rurik

• The Home of Strangers

• The Convergence of Destinies

• The Continuity of Governance

• The Meeting of Minds

You probably didn't want to know any of this. You want to know when it's going to be finished. Well, soonish.

I'm now on the final section, which I'm informally calling The Troika. I was going to make it a separate part, but I've decided against it, as the split is a little hazy. It makes sense for me to think of it that way though.

In the second draft, that comprised four chapters, but I think that will be five after the third draft. I need to take a little more time to build up to the big finale, building on what I've now set up in the earlier chapters. It's time for Steffanov to step up here.

The biggest change will be the final epilogue chapter, but that's mainly because I've thought of a nicer idea. No big deal.

Progress is likely to be slow over the next couple of weeks, as I have a few distractions planned. A bit of pension shenanigans to sort out to prepare for turning 65 this year, a delivery of logs to lug through the house to the shed, a bit of decoration, a haircut, and a blitz through the house ahead of my son coming for a few days next week. We'll combine his birthday celebrations with going to see the Superman and Fantastic Four movies.

Once the third draft is complete, this one definitely needs a fourth, given the nature of the changes. However, i will be keeping this to a bare minimum, keeping it to line editing, and most importantly, looking out for plot holes and framing errors now Ive juggled so much. then that will be it. Phew!

Right. Onwards.