An old, unpublished book on a hard drive would benefit from a relook before release. This is where I find myself with the first Retrokid… it was started in 2020 and finished a year later. What have I learned since then? Both skill-wise and about the universe and its characters? Can I trust myself to responsibly edit and revise without going overboard?
I could have surgically targeted my edits if I knew my way around the book. However, I only remember the basics. What is in each chapter and the trajectories of each character’s arc are not details I have ready access to in my brain. Therefore, I’m forced to read through it again.
This is where I’m running into some issues. To be specific, it’s not up to my current standards. In fact, it almost feels like I let Grammarly do too much. It’s hard to put my finger on, but it feels like there’s more gibberish than usual.
So, while I wanted to respect my prior work, I found myself with a decision… do I revise again or leave it as is?
I have to revise. Especially if it’s as I fear and I let Grammarly have too much say. Also, to properly thread the series together, I can’t, in good conscience, do it by simply splicing in some details. Going through the manuscript, as tedious as that may be, is the proper choice.
This feels like, to borrow something the Retrokids might talk about, an HD remake of an old game. I have the opportunity to bring an old work up to date. All the hard stuff is done. It’s just adding the hi-res textures and giving it some QoL updates.
Of course, this will delay everything. Not just the first book but the second, third, and beyond. But it will be worth it. What’s an additional month? I’m still working on the illustrations in parallel, and the covers aren’t done yet either.
Chances are these books will never be bestsellers, so I’m really doing this for me. I want to put out the best work I can.