I recently created a Facebook group made of a few friends, selected for their special interests or simply because they like science fiction and were nice enough to offer their help. I’m writing a book, and I know from experience that a good book cannot be done alone. You need help. The book I am writing, A Sky with Six Stars, is currently in its sixth draft (a draft being a complete start-to-finish rewrite). This sixth version, which builds mostly from a NaNoWriMo 2015 version which made up Draft #5, is being written and distributed chapter by chapter. When chapters are similar enough (e.g. Chapter 1) to their equivalent in Draft #5, they only need to be re-written once and then edited. When they are too different (e.g. Chapter 3) or completely new inclusions (e.g. Chapter 6) they are written from scratch first, rewritten, and then edited.

The problem with this method is that it takes a long time, but meh, whatever. I’ve been working on ASW6S for nearly six years now, in one form or another. It only recently took upon that title. Originally it was Beyond the Portal, although this was quickly scrapped in favor for Through the Portal, which was eventually used for the self-published version which i now consider to be a third draft. Through the Portal is still available on Amazon, and I’ve decided to leave it up, along with it’s own Facebook page separate to those of Daniel Farrelly (Author) and A Sky with Six Stars. The reason? I’m proud of my little mistake.

The cover of the Through the Portal (2012) paperback.

It’s a terrible book. The plot is cliche and reads as some kid’s attempt at a TV show more than anything. It’s badly edited, and at least once I start to refer to characters by the wrong names. Its badly paced, rushed, there’s no detail in anything and there’s way too much ground covered, with not enough time spent in any one place. Its just a bad attempt at a book that needed a lot more time. But what do you expect? I wrote it in high school. Its a mess, but hey, i learnt a lot. And I got some nice reviews. People liked it (though I have no idea why). Who knows, maybe someone will read A Sky with Six Stars and wonder about what came before?

Through the Portal (2012) is available through Amazon.