One More Year (Another Day Rewrite) Chapter 1 is Out!

Okay, I did it. I need to set a timer on myself when editing or something, because I somehow simultaneously feel like this chapter is both infinitely more refined than it was after the first draft but at the same time completely ruined. But I've managed to balance those feelings, and viola - a release! Anyway, you can find the first chapter of One More Year HERE (Nifty) and HERE (Literotica)

The whole point of this project is to become a better writer, and one shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good, or even of the done. So I'm looking forward to any feedback, although I imagine at this point there won't be much, as there's not much of a story out there at the moment, and I probably don't have a following.

I'm unsure of my release schedule at the moment. I'm going to try and find volunteer editors based on this first chapter, so that will mostly dictate the time until chapter 2, as I'll need to figure out what people will be willing to do and what the timelines on that will be, as well as test some people out.

After that, I'm going to try and strike a balance where I can, for example, write Chapter 14 while I'm editing Chapter 3 for release, so hopefully that's doable in a time spanning  somewhere between a week and a month, and hopefully people don't find that too painfully slow. 

I've waited nearly a decade for the completion of one of my favourite stories on Nifty, and any fans of my old stories - apologies and much gratitude if you're reading this - are still waiting for the completion of mine. So as long as I can stick to some sort of schedule, and maybe finish this story this year, I'd consider that a major win.

If you'd like to read the garbled mess of my older stories, I'm keeping links to everything over HERE.

Notes on the main differences between One More Year and Another Day:

I'll start with what is a pretty fundamental difference. Another Day was something I was very much writing episodically - even I didn't know what was going to happen, at the time. One More Year is different - not only did I have the base of Another Day to work with, but I managed to come up with what I hope is a fun and satisfying general plot. So there's that.

The other major difference is the motivation, which I talked about a bit in my first blog post, but the gist is that Another Day was an expression of teenage longing (which has it's place in the world, don't get me wrong) but One More Year is (hopefully) more of a re-framing of all the stuff that happened to me while I was first out there navigating relationships, which I hope creates a richer and more enjoyable story.

Down into specific differences, I'm trying to deliver something more polished in general. I'm by no means an excellent speller or a meticulous self-editor, but whatever process I was using back then to edit myself clearly had some horrendous shortcomings. I've got a slightly better toolbox now.

I'm working on my characterization - trying to construct characters in the story that are distinct, memorable, and likable, or at least interesting. I want a lot of them flow in and out of the narrative, the way people did in the period of my real life that I'm trying to reflect here. Hopefully that doesn't come across as arbitrary or chaotic.

Most specifically, I've changed the names of two major characters. Andrea has become Ellie, because she became a much bigger part of the story than I'd originally intended, and I needed a name that reflected her better for the character to sit right in my head. Jared became Jamie, because I now know a Jared well enough that it became weird to keep using that name, especially on a character that I keep having to describe a crush on.

I've also added a whole host of other characters, because when I read it back to myself it felt strange how isolated every character was, and also realized that for a decent story arc, Jay would need more than just two and half people to interact with. 

I'll add different minor notes as the chapters progress, on the off chance anyone is interested, but if I keep clacking away here I'm going to give away some major plot points, so I'll stop.

Volunteer Editors & Beta Readers:

I can't really offer any payment at the moment, as this story is a pure work of love on my part, but if you're interested in editing (and of course, capable of such) then let me know. Editing, done right, will be a pretty laborious process, so I really won't be surprised if I can't find anyone who does it for free. But if you are able and willing, let me know. 

I also wouldn't mind some volunteer Beta readers - you work won't be nearly as difficult, as all I'll want from you is to read a chapter (which you'd hopefully be planning on doing already) and then just answer a few specific questions about it. I also can't offer anything for this, but once I've settled on a more or less official core of beta readers, you'll be getting the chapters before anyone else and maybe having your recommended changes implemented. So hopefully that will be rewarding enough.

At the moment, the system I've picked for Beta Readers is simple and straightforward - you can just go directly to the form and answer some of my questions. I don't know if I'm asking useful questions yet, but I'll figure it out. Give it a look - there's no requirement to answer, and no requirement to keep answering in the future if you answer now.

Otherwise, thanks for reading the chapter, thanks for coming here and indulging me by reading this (I can't imagine any other motivation) and feel free to say hi in the comments!