The 3rd Draft

2 weeks ago I was faced with rewriting my ending following helpful feedback from one of my reviewers. I have since heard from 4 more; one did not think there was a hook in the first couple of chapters so has not read any further; two thought it worked well as it was; and the fourth said the writing was of the same quality as published authors on her bookshelf.

So it looks like the story appeals to some. What do I need to do to make it better?

I was told that I had a plausibility issue in the first draft, and it was suggested that I frighten a character into having a heart attack rather than using my chosen method to bring it about. The only way I felt I could do this was for one character to threaten the other in such a vile manner that it would cause a heart attack. I dreamed up a way of doing this and happily wrote it down, tying it up with the existing story-line quite nicely.

The following day, as I was reading it back, I decided that the threat I had used would cause me to react quite differently, so I scrapped the second version and rewrote the whole thing.

I then tried to work on another piece of advice received, but did not think I could write something interesting and entertaining about the characters' feelings for an inanimate object... so I brought the object to life, gave 'her' a gender and a voice. I think it works well and that the third draft is the best to date. One reviewer, so far, thinks V3 works well. Let's see what the others think.

Oh! I bumped into another friend online today, who has also agreed to review it.

So, now to work on the book layout, while I wait for a few more of my wonderful team of unpaid readers to tell me if this version works better than the last. It should do... there's an additional murder to add to the tally!