The First Read

​I let the manuscript for my third book in the Ian Murphy series Dead Reckoning cool off in December with the self promise to begin the re-writing/editing process in January.  I followed my plan and have finished with the read through.
I promised to be honest with myself and all of you who read my blog.  I have a lot of work ahead of me.  One overwhelming problem is assuming that readers know some things because they have read both Murphy’s Troubles and Out of Darkness.  The final story has context and to be honest it is a mystery to me on how to provide that without a tremendous amount of back story in the final book.  It is probably more honest to call the books a trilogy rather than a series because it is one overarching story not different stories with the same primary characters in each book.  If anyone has experience writing a trilogy, please e-mail is at: [email protected] with suggestions on how to handle this conundrum.
The second major problem is that the first several chapters contain good material on the inciting incident that propels Ian Murphy into his final journey.  What the chapters don’t do well is establish the primary conflict or explain what Ian desperately needs to complete his journey.  I know that will require substantial re-writing.
Following the initial chapters I was fairly self-satisfied with the plot, pace and story until I reached Chapter 16.  After reading Chapter 16 I had to ask myself why I wrote the Chapter because it didn’t contribute to the story or move the plot along.  In fact, it was a solid granite mountain in the story, that chapter must go.
The final problem is the last chapter of the manuscript.  I wanted it to be the ‘Final Solution’ to Ian’s life with a flair for the dramatic and emotionally satisfying to the reader.  It fails those goals totally.  The last chapter is like milk toast and I closed the story abruptly.  Fortunately, I’m submitting the last chapter to author/teacher/friend Christine DeSmet for a critique in conjunction with the 2017 Wisconsin Writer’s Institute.  I will still need to do some serious editing to get rid of the sloppiness before sharing the draft with Christine.
The first read had opened my eyes and confirmed the truth that all good writing is re-writing.