Eh, I’ll Fix That Later: Editing Countersink

Ah editing. The necessary evil in the life of every writer. Its difficulties are different from the difficulty of coming up with the first draft. Don’t get me wrong, writing a first draft is super hard (it’s the most difficult part for me, personally), but editing has more expectations and therefore more pressure.

With writing a first draft, the only thing you have to do is get it done. Have a plot point that doesn’t make any sense? No problem. You’ll hammer that out in editing.

Change someone’s appearance mid-story? Eh, you’ll fix it later.

Don’t know exactly what the main character’s house looks like? Think a relationship is moving too quickly? Have a flat villain without a relatable motive? It’s fine. You’ll fix it in editing.

Editing is judgment day; all the things you’ve been putting off fixing, now require fixing. There is no putting it off until later. They need to be fixed now and if they can’t be fixed, they need to be rewritten.

Enter me.

Countersink…oh Countersink…the king of plot points left for later. Well, it’s later, and I’m finding I’m having to rewrite most of it as many of the things wrong with it are intrinsic, core issues. Thing with the plot itself, of motivation and character design. A lot of vague problems such as: the plot is boring. Luis doesn’t learn anything. What does Sato have against them anyway?

The plot has been almost completely overhauled and the characters have changed quite a bit: Luis especially. He has a bit more protagonist in him. A little more heroic. I’m focusing more on his and Paul’s relationship than in the original version. I’ve also been delving more into the lore and history of ultra hero culture.

It’s a lot of work, but I like this version much better than the previous one. Most of the scenes up on this blog are from the new version.

I’m about half-way through Part 2 of 4. So it’s getting there. Slowly.

There really aren’t any shortcuts, are there? Even if there were, I think they would be evident when reading back over it.

I love this story and it makes me happy that chronic problems with the plot and characters are finally being fixed. Even if it’s taking my focus away from Necromantic.

Don’t worry, Innu! I’ll get back to you soon!