As you know, I have been writing and writing and writing for a couple of years now on Battletech TROs and stories and so forth. It is a long time to be writing on a single subject, and to be honest, I thought I was rather getting the hang of it.
You can imagine my shock, then, a couple of days back when Paul Skowronek returned the first of my Introductions with his notes. After that was the sound of chopping late into the night - me at my computer, hacking away at what I *thought* was a pretty good intro.
It got worse. The introduction for the 'Mech section was horrific - I had committed so many egregious errors that it became pretty clear what I had was not only not ready to print, it barely rose above the status of 'rough draft'.
I studied the changes Paul suggested as I entered them, noting along the way that I had used colloquialisms, names for political entities which did not exist in 3063, and even a few bits of slang. It probably would have served me well to study the actual TROs I have in profusion, but Paul set me straight and... well, he pretty much re-wrote the Introductions.
I have not heard from him in the past few days, though I have sent numerous emails with comments and questions. He is probably very busy, but let me say this right now - I have a LOT to learn about writing for BattleTech, and about writing to an audience in general. He has essentially performed the duties of a co-writer rather than those expected of a simple proofreader.
Thank you, Paul! As with my other co-writer, Geoffrey, you are responsible for any excellence this work may have.
I am still stuck on what to replace the current main intro for the Vehicles section. Probably brain lock or something. I will be attending a game tomorrow, but working hard on that bit tonight. Perhaps Paul will come to my rescue, perhaps not. There is enough guidance to get the job done, but it will be slow.
Meanwhile, I have to send out reminders to the artists again, checking on their progress. The Oculus has been finished, and while it may not seem like a big deal, it is the first finished piece of commissioned vehicle art. You can see it above. We are using propulsion systems which actually work, but are a bit of a change from the usual helicopter layout...
Meanwhile, Geoff has once again come through with several pieces which have been tweaked and trimmed and brought up to standards (including those mentioned by Paul). I will send them out to the other proofreaders tonight. More eyes is better, it seems.
Steve
You can imagine my shock, then, a couple of days back when Paul Skowronek returned the first of my Introductions with his notes. After that was the sound of chopping late into the night - me at my computer, hacking away at what I *thought* was a pretty good intro.
It got worse. The introduction for the 'Mech section was horrific - I had committed so many egregious errors that it became pretty clear what I had was not only not ready to print, it barely rose above the status of 'rough draft'.
I studied the changes Paul suggested as I entered them, noting along the way that I had used colloquialisms, names for political entities which did not exist in 3063, and even a few bits of slang. It probably would have served me well to study the actual TROs I have in profusion, but Paul set me straight and... well, he pretty much re-wrote the Introductions.
I have not heard from him in the past few days, though I have sent numerous emails with comments and questions. He is probably very busy, but let me say this right now - I have a LOT to learn about writing for BattleTech, and about writing to an audience in general. He has essentially performed the duties of a co-writer rather than those expected of a simple proofreader.
Thank you, Paul! As with my other co-writer, Geoffrey, you are responsible for any excellence this work may have.
I am still stuck on what to replace the current main intro for the Vehicles section. Probably brain lock or something. I will be attending a game tomorrow, but working hard on that bit tonight. Perhaps Paul will come to my rescue, perhaps not. There is enough guidance to get the job done, but it will be slow.
Meanwhile, I have to send out reminders to the artists again, checking on their progress. The Oculus has been finished, and while it may not seem like a big deal, it is the first finished piece of commissioned vehicle art. You can see it above. We are using propulsion systems which actually work, but are a bit of a change from the usual helicopter layout...
Meanwhile, Geoff has once again come through with several pieces which have been tweaked and trimmed and brought up to standards (including those mentioned by Paul). I will send them out to the other proofreaders tonight. More eyes is better, it seems.
Steve
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