Step Four:

Write!

I'll post my notes chapter by chapter once I complete Part 1, but, before I go into what it's been like writing Part 1 of Sequestered Mind, and how I worked with my outline, if you're using LibreOffice instead of WaveMaker Cards, as you write your story, and want to remind yourself of questions to answer, any editing or revision notes, or a possible new idea, you can insert comments by highlighting a portion of your text, and click Insert > Comment, or press Ctrl + alt + c. I'm almost certain other word processors have something similar.

If you're writing by hand, you can write on sticky notes or write in the margins (if you leave margins of blank space).

But I wrote with WaveMaker Cards, so now you'll get to see all of my data cards with my revision notes along with my outline notes, showing you how my outline became flexible as I made changes to it while writing the first draft. You'll also get a look at how different the Remastered (RM) version differed from the Original version (OV) ten years ago, and any challenges and delays I faced while writing it.

The first challenge was writing the beginning.

Chapter 0

These are the notes I had taken for what was going to originally be the first chapter, but I still wasn't sure about it because this felt more like a prologue than Chapter One, and I wasn't sure I would need it since I could see in my outline most of what would be in this chapter would be explained in the future chapters, so I decided to start writing the story from the next chapter on. By the time I had written the eighth chapter, I had managed to squeeze in all of this chapter's notes in the story, so this chapter became redundant, and I no longer needed to write it at all.

THE MAP: Cyclonis and Dark Ace retrieve a map, stowing away her vulture mask. She gives Repton a test, sending them on an errand to retrieve a crystal from the map with no coordinates, but a vague idea of where the location might be. Dark Ace asks if she believes that they'll actually be able to retrieve the crystal. “No, but at least they'll trigger all of the traps. So we win either way.” Views a sketch of a door with a crystal key.

LAP-DOGS: Repton recalls all of Cyclonis's threats, her violence, her power when his comrades ask him why they're being Cyclonis's lap-dogs. Goes to a remote terra to start looking for landmarks. Before they could find the location, Kite steals the map. They give chase, but she's been evading them.

WHISPERS: Starling hears whispers and rumors about robed figures with bird masks conducting secret meetings, and a map that supposedly leads to a crystal that could doom the entire Atmos from the Atmosian council. They're worried that the secret society may know too much without any allegiences, or, worse, disclosing information directly to the enemy. Cyclonians seem to be putting a plan into motion, but they don't know what. Recalls that they don't want Cyclonis to develop the same terrifying powers as her mother had all those years ago.

KITE'S SKIMMER: Days later, Starling runs into Repton, and overhears him yelling at his comrades, describing the skimmer, to which Starling recognizes it. Tries looking for Kite at her usual hang-outs, but can't seem to find her either. Decides to enlist help.

Outling Notes: 264 words

Chapter Word Count: 0