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Writer's pictureThomas J Maine

Neon Rainbow; Setbacks and Rewrites

After having the novel close to done, it feels almost disheartening to have encountered such a setback. The possibility of having it released a year after my first release is feeling more of a distant dream now, although I have not given up hope.


Neon Rainbow is now facing a serious rewrite. I have always done rewrites, but not like this one. Normally, I'd have the old version up as I redo the new one. This time, I only have flashcards of chapter summaries, and in many ways, the plot is changing. A whole section was convoluted and made little sense and provided very little. It is being taken out, and replaced.

An interim cover I made. It will not be permanent

Another change is perspective. Until now, though all the drafts, Neon Rainbow was a first person story. Now it is in third person. The reason for this is that I believe it will better allow me to handle the dynamics and characters. It makes it easier to swap to other perspectives without breaking contingency, and I must say, it is incredibly hard moving between two different characters' minds. For first person, I need to write how they think. The characters think differently. It began to do my head it. This also allows me to better tackle events. In the old version, each chapter was from a different character. It made it difficult when an event needed to be portrayed through time. Another difficulty was filler chapters being made to add a chapter between the two of the same character. The problem of this was that these events were not necessary, and after multiple edits, couldn't even be removed anymore. A full rewrite was the only option.

In the old version, the book was divided into parts, and those parts into chapters. Now, those chapters are divided into perspectives, so that I can jump between characters without advancing time, or remain with a character for consecutive chapters. The chapter count gets lower, the chapter length gets longer, but the natural breaks also become more numerous.

This process is daunting, but I have now finished the first part of the book, and am now moving into the second. I am looking forward to this, although it will be a lot of work.


Here is another topic of change. Architecture. I had chosen an architecture for the setting that I know will not be the most forthcoming for readers. It's a magic school. Harry Potter was set in a castle. Wednesday is set in modern times, but Nevermore has a gothic feel to it. What I was doing was more inline with a sci fi than a fantasy.

I am okay with this, but I know it is not the most beaconing to readers. However, I will never change what my story is to appeal to readers, much less the hypothetical idea of what I think a reader will want. No. I've don't that before, and it was a mistake.

[I will discuss further on]

I read my old drafts, from back when Neon Rainbow was a short story. What I discovered was that this setting was not what it had to be. It is new, an addition to my story. So I looked through my memories and inspirations, found different buildings, and grew my ideas. I will not conform to a medieval atmosphere, it will not be classic gothic, and I will not bend my school into a Hogwarts lookalike. But I will expand and grow, and make my school what I want it to be. This means the atmosphere will change, but I always had issues with it anyway.


There is an issue I take with Neon Rainbow, but it is beyond my control. I could avert it with ease, but I won't, because that would be a compromise. I believe there is a significant chance that people may pick up this book thinking it is something other than what it is. I do now wish to mislead readers, so I will be honest at every point. Neon Rainbow is a story about high school, a magic high school. It is about a conflict between what the characters are trying to achieve, and the limits placed by reality, expectation, others, and more. I realise even this explanation may be misconstrued, but only really if you enter with a certain frame of mind. I believe this is an unnatural frame of mind, but foresee a distortion in our world meaning that people will more often than not bare this frame. There is little I can do here aside from violate ideas of which I hold sacred.

The result; I believe people may dislike this book. Not because it's bad, but because they will feel betrayed. Imagine you want Apple Juice, you buy something thinking it is apple juice, but in fact it is pineapple juice. There is nothing wrong with pineapple juice, in fact it might be better. But you feel betrayed, your hopes were betrayed, and you do not enjoy a juice you should have enjoyed. I fear people will read this book thinking it is one thing, when it is something else. All I can do is be honest; this is a story about two girls in a magic high school, trying to achieve their futures, with a million obstacles in their way. I can not waste my time opinning on the possibility of people expecting something different, something more (or less, depending on our view) because the world has twisted certain concepts.


Before I end this, I must address a mistake I made with Imperfect Creatures. I compromised.

Yes, I know. I mock people who use focus groups, and yet I bent to one myself. A certain event was supposed to happen early in the book, but because people told me they liked something and wanted more of it, I gave them that. I made up filler content that wasn't a part of the story, and embedded it into the narrative. I believe this compromise is most why I was never happy with the resulting theme and message of the book. Yes, you got more of something we both enjoy. But the result was a bit jarring, and a muddled message I worked hard to bring back closer to coarse.

Well, it taught me a lesson at least. From now on, I won't be compromising on my vision. Neon Rainbow will not be steered in any direction by a view of what others want. It is a story. I know the target demographic. I may decide my framing on that. Do I swear or do I not? How brutal will I present a moment? But as for the story itself, it will be the story I envision. I don't care, I won't let myself be swayed, by the desires of others. I became a writer because I had a story to tell, not a mirror to hold up. I will tell that story.


Neon Rainbow will be my story, and that may alienate some. But I hope my honesty, and my passion, can shine through. I've always had a thing for passion in the arts. It's why I love Meat Loaf so much.


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