2nd Draft Done & Dusted

The slow and methodical process of editing began almost as soon as the first draft was complete. My passion for this story has not waned since opening that first word doc on 22nd April 2020 and I couldn’t simply remain idle with it.

I recruited the assistance of an old friend, a Doctor of History no less. I simply know him and have known him since I was 12, as Rob. Dr Joy is not only an academic but wonderfully creative. He is able to play countless musical instruments to a professional standard (mostly focusing on guitar) and co-founded the band Black Bart at college, I would later go on to meet the love of my life at one of their gigs. Dr Joy, along with my brother, Harrison, have provided me with a sounding board, advice and reined me in on a number of occasions to get the story to a place I feel it is complete. Harrison, is equally creative and his talents lie within the artistic worlds, be it digital (both 2D and 3D) or more traditional methods. His knowledge of films especially, and appreciation for the nuances of storytelling has truly helped me make Armis the story it is today. They have both enabled me to create a compelling story that now resembles something that is (hopefully) worthy of publish.

I am currently going through the final draft with only minor errors remaining, the odd comma here, the odd full stop there. Rob has read and re-read this novel countless times and handed me a back a hard copy of the manuscript with his hand written corrections a few weeks ago. Since then, I have been going through line by line, word by word to ensure I cannot make it any better. I am so very grateful to both of them for all their assistance with Armis and although I could have got the book to this stage on my own, it would be riddled with mistakes and nowhere near as tight a narrative as it has become.

So now to complete this stage, the final draft, and get it ready to submit to literally agents. 2021 is going to be an exciting year, an exciting year indeed.

Written by J. J. Westerman