If you started reading iBL after 8/12/2020, this message does not apply, but I encourage you to read on to learn about my approach to editing the story post-upload
Hey there! Hope you're doing well. Just checking in to address some continuity and maintenance concerns of mine regarding Iron Bullet Legacy.
As you might know, this is my first story I’m publishing online. I thank all who have joined me thus far on this exploration of Sitara and Torryn’s lives. It’s been such a fun journey! I’ve adored creating this world and getting to know these characters.
It should come as no surprise that my newness to serializing a book online has presented many challenges, including the finality of publishing a chapter. Once uploaded, I refrain from editing the story (save minor tweaks to human errors regarding grammar or formatting) to maintain its integrity, as well as in acknowledgement that any changes I make will widely go unseen. This adds a “get it right the first time” stakes to writing that is unrealistic, but also freeing.
You see, there’s a lot I could add and change based on new research (and, let me tell you, I’m a continuity junkie, so research may as well be my middle name), but I’m more focused on the future of the story rather than polishing the past. That being said, getting all the details right the first time is unheard of no matter how long you’ve been writing. While I’d like to say I’m entirely content with this, I’m not, and there are some changes to make in Iron Bullet Legacy that I don’t think I should ignore any longer.
For starters, beginning in Chapter 1, Sitara refers to the device on her hand as a prosthetic. This was originally used as a placeholder term to describe the mechanics I invented for her, but it never entirely felt like the right fit. A prosthesis is widely defined as an artificial body part replacing one that is missing. Sitara, however, still has her hand in its entirety, to which the “rods and wires,” as Torryn describes, are attached. My research leads me to believe that a more appropriate term would be an orthotic, which Oxford Languages defines as “an artificial support or brace for the limbs or spine.” Again, I’m unsure if this term fits best, but I’m confident it better represents the idea I aim to convey. Specifically, in the story, the device is to be coined an orthotic nerve apparatus… but that’s a mouthful for someone to say in passing, thus often shortening it to just an orthotic.
Similarly, I’d like to edit a small interaction between Sitara and Torryn. At the beginning of Chapter 3, she exhibits anxiety because he asks about her hand. The initial decision to have her panic here was founded on the idea that the injury would be a touchy subject for her. Don’t get me wrong, it definitely is, and she’s still not going to give him an answer that night, but I want to adjust her motivation for avoiding the conversation. It makes much more sense, to me, that Sitara would be comfortable avoiding the topic with others after having done it so often in her life. However, with Torryn, she feels a sense of comfort that compels her to open up to him... though she ultimately chooses not to get personal with the stranger she caught carrying fae-killing weaponry. I believe this change, however slight, better represents the natural trust they're cultivating, even in these first moments, as opposed to their bond relying on convenient naiveté or "love at first sight."
As much as it’s my goal to continue Iron Bullet Legacy while maintaining integrity to its serialized form, I hope to make similar adjustments going forward for the benefit of the story if necessary.
Thank you for reading!
Kan
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