This week has been a whirlwind. Between submitting Aiko’s Dive to #WriteMentor and the revision of Infinity’s Heir, I’ve barely had time for anything else (I almost didn’t have time to write this).

The revision of Infinity’s Heir is coming along. So far, I’ve managed to get through half of the manuscript, though the halfway point keeps getting pushed back with every new chapter I add.

Either way, here’s a list of some of the things I’ve done:

First Chapter

I’ve taken steps to streamline the first chapter and make it a little bit more interesting for the reader. This means more insight from the MC and more world building. I also remove a small section that only served to delay the inciting incident.

Descriptions

I’ve realized, partly due to feedback from Revpit, that I sometimes leave too much to the imagination. I’m pretty good at world building, but there are certain things that I’ve simply neglected to describe in detail. I’ve taken steps to rectify that by inserting descriptions for important objects and locations throughout the entire work.

Changes to “The Old Man” Character

I’ve been thinking about what to do with the old man character for a while. In earlier versions of the novel, he is strictly there for the inevitable Deus Ex Machina moment that happens during the climax. But I’ve always felt like I could do so much more with the character.

And now I have.

I did some research and found that there are a few beings in Norse mythology that serve the same purpose as “The Old Man”. One name for such a being is Hamingja, a kind of female guardian angel. A more general term would be Dis, which is a spirit associated with fate.

I thought about it a lot and decided that changing “The Old Man” to “A Mysterious Woman” would serve the story much better. It adds a mythological flair, and I think the character is far more interesting for the change.

Besides this change, I’ve added more scenes that have her interacting with other characters more often.

Additional Chapters to Strengthen Jonnas’ Character Arc

So far, I’ve added three chapters that focus on Jonnas. When I initially gave Jonnas a larger role in the novel, I didn’t really pay attention to how much development I gave the character. He was present for the first few chapters, then disappeared until he was needed again. The only problem is that he’s absent for TWENTY CHAPTERS!

I’ve taken steps to correct this oversight by adding three chapters (spaced throughout the manuscript) that focus solely on Jonnas arc and set up his eventual reappearance. My hope is that, with all of these extra pages, the reader can really connect with him before his involvement in the climax.

And these are just the changes I’ve made so far. Here are a few I plan to make in the second half of the manuscript:

Tweaks to pivotal conversations

Throughout the rest of the manuscript, there are a few VERY important conversations. Some of those simply need to be changed to account for the above items, but others will require complete reworks based on more recent ideas I’ve had.

I can’t say what these changes are because I don’t want to spoil the novel for you. XD

Completing changes to “The Old Man”

(Now, the mysterious woman.)

She has a few more appearances throughout the rest of the book and I have to change every single one to account for the fact that she’s no longer an old man and that she has quite a bit more personality than the old man ever did. I think there are three more chapters she appears in, so I want to make sure that each of those is filled out properly.

Adding a bit more to the third act?

This is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a while. The third act is an interesting one, but might be a little too easy for the characters. I’ve took steps in the last revision to address this, but I’m still not sure I went far enough. I’ll take a look when I get there.

So far, I’ve managed to add about 10,000 words to the latest revision of the manuscript, bringing the grand total up to a little over 96,000. Based on the fact that I’m adding roughly 500 words per chapter, I expect the final manuscript to settle north of the 100k mark (and far closer to the expected word count for the genre).

I’m very happy with these changes, and I can’t wait to work my way though the rest of the manuscript. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get it done by the end of next week. We’ll see.

Either way, I’ll post another update when I’m done.