Tag: Completion

  • The End of the Nineth Cycle

    Even Things That Go Bump in the Night Need a Place to Unwind

    I have completed my ninth review of the Grand. This review showed no decrease in corrections when compared to revision eight. The Cheshire Cats Grin had the most substantial drop of 62%, while the Van Helsing Paradox increased by 63%. Overall, there were 207 corrections and gives us an average of 17 changes per chapter.

    About 20% of the chapters saw a drop in changes during this cycle. This revision cycle is unique in that there was no drop in corrections, although changes varied greatly from chapter to chapter.

    Here is a summary of the cycle:

    • Overall was no drop in modifications when compared to revision eight;
    • 207 modifications for the entire work;
    • 17 modifications per chapter;
    • The Cheshire Cats Grin had the most substantial drop at 62%; and
    • The Van Helsing Paradox had a 63% increase in changes.

    These revision took far less time than previous revisions and for the same reasons:

    • It takes far less time to run through the material;
    • There are far fewer errors to find with an average of 424 words between corrections. This improves on the 371 words per change seen in revision eight; and
    • Changes implemented are minor in scope.

    I expect to keep pushing through these revisions until the total amount of corrections drop well below 25 for the manuscript. Since there was no change from the previous revision, I expect there are 2-3 revisions left.


  • The End of the Eighth Cycle

    Even Things That Go Bump in the Night Need a Place to Unwind

    I have completed my eighth review of the Grand. This review marked a 27% drop in corrections when compared to revision seven. Into the Fire had the most substantial drop of 71%, while changes to The Cheshire Cats Grin increased by 333%. Overall, there were 207 corrections and gives us an average of 17 changes per chapter.

    About 20% of the chapters saw a drop in changes during this cycle. The Cheshire Cats Grin saw the greatest increase, in stark contrast to the last revision where it saw the greatest decrease.

    Here is a summary of the cycle:

    • Overall a 27% drop in modifications when compared to revision seven;
    • 207 modifications for the entire work. The first time revisions are under three digits;
    • 17 modifications per chapter;
    • Into the Fire had the most substantial drop at 71%; and
    • The Cheshire Cats Grin had a 333% increase in changes.

    Like last couple of revisions, this revision took far less time than previous revisions and for the same reasons:

    • It takes far less time to run through the material;
    • There are far fewer errors to find with an average of 371 words between corrections. This improves on the 307 words per change seen in revision seven; and
    • Changes implemented are minor in scope.

    I expect to keep pushing through these revisions until the total amount of corrections drop well below 25 for the manuscript. If these trends hold, I expect there are 2-3 revisions left.


  • The End of the Seventh Cycle

    Even Things That Go Bump in the Night Need a Place to Unwind

    I have completed my seventh review of the Grand. This review marked a 34% drop in corrections compared to revision five. The Cheshire Cats Grin had the most substantial drop of 73%, while Siamese Dreams doubled in changes. Overall there were 283 corrections and gives us an average of 17 changes per chapter.

    For the most part this cycle saw a drop for all chapters, except for Siamese Dreams. As expected, this breaks the trend established in revision six.

    Here is a summary of the cycle:

    • Overall a 34% drop in modifications when compared to revision six;
    • 283 modifications for the entire work. The first time revisions are under three digits;
    • 17 modifications per chapter;
    • The Cheshire Cats Grin had the most substantial drop at 73%; and
    • Siamese Dreams had a 100% increase in changes.

    Like revision six, this revision has taken far less time than previous revisions and for the same reasons:

    • It takes far less time to run through the material;
    • There are far fewer errors to find with an average of 304 words between corrections. This improves on the 172 words per change seen in revision six; and
    • Changes implemented are minor in scope.

    I expect to keep pushing through these revisions until the total amount of corrections drop well below 25 for the manuscript. If these trends hold, I expect there are at 3-4 revisions left.


  • The End of the Sixth Cycle

    Even Things That Go Bump in the Night Need a Place to Unwind

    I have completed my sixth review of the Grand. This review marked a 53% drop in corrections compared to revision five. The Virgin Goddess of the Hunt had the most substantial drop of 69%, while Ethereal Nights had least at 24%.Overall there were 431 corrections that gives us an average of 26 changes per chapter. Overall this cycle saw a drop in changes for every chapter, although I do not expect this to be a trend.

    Here is a summary of the cycle:

    • Overall a 53% drop in modifications when compared to revision five;
    • 431 modifications for the entire work. The first time revisions are under three digits;
    • 26 modifications per chapter;
    • The Virgin Goddess of the Hunt had the most substantial drop at 69%; and
    • Ethereal Nights had a 24% drop in changes.

    The revision cycle has been greatly accelerated.  Here are some of the reasons why:

    • It takes far less time to run through the material;
    • There are far fewer errors to find with an average of 172 words between corrections; and
    • Changes implemented are minor in scope.

    I expect to keep pushing through these revisions until the total amount of corrections drop well below 25 for the manuscript.  If my current trends hold, I expect there are at 4-5 revisions left.


  • The End of the Fifth Cycle

    Even Things That Go Bump in the Night Need a Place to Unwind

    I have completed my fifth review of the Grand. This review marked a 28% drop in overall corrections when compared to the previous revision. Ethereal Nights had the most substantial drop at 60%. While Hadrian’s Legacy increased in changes by 48%.

    Overall there were 925 corrections done over the whole of the Grand giving us an average of 57 changes per chapter. This review saw some chapters gain considerably in the amount of revisions as compared to the last review.  Ethereal Nights gained the most whereas it survived with the least changes during the last cycle.

    Here is a summary of the cycle:

    • Overall a 28% drop in modifications when compared to revision four;
    • 925 modifications for the entire work. The first time revisions are under three digits;
    • 57 modifications per chapter;
    • Ethereal Nights had the most substantial drop at 60%; and
    • Hadrian’s Legacy increased in changes by 48%.

    This revision cycle showcased observations made while working on the Portrait. I found that previous iterations would have an impact on the current revision. So if a chapter had few revisions in the last cycle, it would likely need more later on.  Only after several iterations did revisions consistently drop for all chapters. Either way, I see there being three to two revisions left for the Grand.


  • Yet Another End of a Cycle

    Even Things That Go Bump in the Night Need a Place to Unwind

    The_Grand_Bravo_Revision_3I have completed my fourth review of the Grand. This review marked a 46% drop in overall corrections when compared to the previous revision. Hadrian’s Legacy had the most substantial drop at 71%. Ethereal Nights stood at the opposite end of the spectrum with a 1% increase in changes.

    Overall there were 1,288 corrections done over the whole of the Grand giving us an average of 72 changes per chapter. This review differs  from the others, because the last three chapters saw little to no improvement in generated changes.

    Here is a summary of the above:

    • Overall a 46% drop in modifications when compared to revision two;
    • 1,288 modifications for the entire work;
    • 72 modifications per chapter;
    • Hadrian’s Legacy had the fewest changes at leading to a 56% decrease; and
    • Ethereal Nights stood at the opposite end of the spectrum with a 1% increase in changes.

    While the decrease in change numbers has not been consistent, I do not view this as a bad thing. When reviewing the Portrait I found a similar behaviour, which may be related to my mood or a change in perspective.  Either way, this means there are at least two revisions left for The Grand.


  • Another End of a Cycle

    Even Things That Go Bump in the Night Need a Place to Unwind

    The_Grand_Bravo_Revision_3One of the core changes between my review process for the Grand compared with the Portrait was record keeping.  The Portrait‘s development had taken place over a decade, using various mediums and statistics were honestly an afterthought.

    As of this post, my third review of the Grand is complete.  This review marked a 48% drop in overall corrections when compared to the previous revision.  Siamese Dreams had the most substantial drop at 56%. Journey Through the River of Belief stood at the opposite end of the spectrum with a 42% reduction in changes.

    Overall there were 2,385 corrections done over the whole of the Grand giving us an average of 139 changes per chapter.  It shows a trend where each review results in less overall changes.  However, some of these changes included the addition of sentences and paragraphs.

    Here is a summary of the above:

    • Overall a 48% drop in modifications when compared to revision two;
    • 2,385 modifications for the entire work;
    • 139 modifications per chapter;
    • Siamese Dreams had the fewest changes at leading to a 56% decrease;
    • Journey Through the River of Belief had the smallest reduction in changes at 48%.

    I also learned that there is no easy metric from which to work from.  The Grand uses changes per work page (A4), changes per Kindle page and changes per eBook percentage.  None of these match up in any way, if two chapters have similar scores in changes per work page, they will not match up for the other metrics.  I found it odd, but it provides me with an idea on my progress.

    Perhaps in my next novel, I will keep track of changes compared to the total word count. Again it will not be the perfect metric to follow, but it will provide some insight!


  • The End of a Cycle

    I have completed my second review of The Grand Project, a story which features a hotel that caters to the needs of things that go bump in the night.  At the end of my first review, I ended up with 4039 modifications over the total of the work.  Additionally, there were 41 changes per percent based on the novels length.

    This revision felt more brutal, since I did a lot of formatting work to separate out the dialogue from paragraphs.  Looking at my statistics from 28 Feb to 25 Apr 16, I ended up with the following:

    • 4630 modifications for the entire work;
    • 46 modifications per percent;
    • Ghoul Hunters had the fewest changes at 33 modifications per percent;
    • One Small Step had the most changes at 69 changes per percent; and
    • A new chapter Chariots of Thunder was added to the manuscript.

    This time around I have more definitive per chapter information, since I collected them after a chapter was completed.  Given that Chariots of Thunder was not part of the initial manuscript, it will not be counted until the next revision.

    Another reason for the large amount of changes is related to my reviewing method.  When I review a chapter, I note changes then transcribe them into my manuscript.  I do not re-read the chapter before moving on since that material will be covered during the next review.  Sometimes my changes were improperly transcribed or retained some of the older verses.  Its not perfect, but I prefer to keep momentum.


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