Creative Writing: Revisions and Improvements

In this post, I will detail the major changes and improvements I have made to the book and story.

Overall, the changes I have made is making the paragraphs longer by connecting two short paragraphs into one, this I believe would give me extra space to write more. I have added page numbers to make the book easier to follow for readers and make the image credits more accurate. I have added more images, using more sources from myself, Unsplash, Pixabay, and Pexels. Then, I also changed the layout of the images by creating a separate page for them instead of putting them in the text. Lastly, I have made many changes to the narrative of the story, which I felt would make it better. I went through each paragraphs and sentences, and rewrite most of them to a better version. I also emphasised more on April's struggles and love for writing compared to the previous interpretation, 

Regarding the changes to the narrative, here are the things I revised:

• Chapter Two's flashback begins on a linear storyline, telling about the changes in his class, his reunion with his close friends, etc.
• During the walk sequence, the previous version only includes two of April's close friends with him, this time it's the complete three.
• While in the previous version April apologized and talked deeply about his relationship with them with only his closest friend, he now expressed his feelings to the three of them while they also share more of their feelings to him.
• In chapters one and two, I put less emphasis on Ms. Cynthia, because I don't believe she is a major character that needs much explanation. As such, I reduced a number of her dialogues and sentences about her as a whole.
• In chapter two, April's beginning to writing is explained more. This time he entered Yuda's book competition, only for his book to not win the prizes. Feeling he lacks talent compared to the other contestants, Yuda tells him that he should continue writing and learning as he is still an amateur, prone to mistakes.
• In chapter three, I put less emphasis on the family journey, making it shorter, but still relevant. On the other hand, I also made April's reunion with his close friends shorter as well, as I wanted to focus more on his writing in the later part of the chapter.
• Beginning on the mid-section of chapter three, the narrative heavily focuses on April's writing. It shows how he is anxious, chasing after a lot of his shortcomings due to his departure in four months. It shows how he completed two different books in three months, but still felt very afraid and unsure of them, realising the book's flaws. Yuda's role here is more emphasised, as the first person to read his first book and the first to read both books, as April trusted his judgement. He returns believing the book is flawed and he lacked talent, only for Yuda to say that while it's flawed, he was compelled by both books, with one making him reminisce deeply. Walking back home, feeling afraid of lacking talent, Yuda's words convinced April everything will be alright and gave him confidence to keep pursuing writing as he loved it.
• In chapter three, I put more emphasis on April's birthday, as a major special memory he has before he leaves to America. In the birthday, it shows April sincerely thanking his family and friends.
• On his departure, more of his close friends came to say goodbye to him. I write more about what they say to him as well.
• In chapter four, I write more about how April is doing in America, how he now has friends there, how his friends back home has become adults and spread through different schools, how he tries his best to call his parents and friends in the middle of tiresome work, and he longed to meet them again. Lastly, I write more about April's thoughts on the changes that had happened over the course of four years, starting from when he was afraid of being left behind, to falling in love with writing, loving his parents and friends more, and living in America. The readers now know that April is no longer anxious or afraid of the future, but will welcome it in open arms; a lesson he had learned throughout this story.

Moving on, here are some screenshots that shows the change in writing structure and image layout.

Here is the new image credits page, as well as the longer last chapter.

In the end, the final result is 36 pages long with a total of 14053 words, compared to 32 and 13094 words in the previous version. I really liked the changes I made, and reading through the story again, I felt more pleased with it. Next post will be talking about the book cover, making it an online flipbook and then creating a page for my website regarding this project.