1) I removed over 3,000 words. What were they, extra butts, twos, both, did. Extra descriptive words. Consider I deleted 3,000 descriptive words. It flows a lot better, and reads better.
2) I added over 6,000 words. WHAT! In the first revision I deleted much of the details from chapter 11. I did it on the advice of someone I love but thought it was too gritty. I never liked the first version, it was NOT what I thought it should have been. The added details (In all chapters) makes the story more defined and helps the read understand the WHYS? It is what I wanted.
3) The relationship between the boys has been expanded. Because of the omission of what I mentioned in #2 above it was difficult to understand the bond of brotherhood. With the addition of the above the relationship between the boys is clear, it answers the WHY. Besides the story is NOT about her its about them.
4) I fleshed out the story more, added depth.
5) The Wood took on the role I wanted it to in the beginning.
6) In the front sheets I added an alert. Some readers just could not grasp that the timeline flowed between two six year periods.
All in all the book is in my opinion a work of poetry now. It is about love, hate and the darkness of people. The book reads better and flows better. It is what I intended it to be.
Lastly I have corrected the remaining grammar errors, I hope.
So why?
Because of the book, >"Your First Novel"<. When I took creative writing my teacher Mrs. Bryant made a choice at the start of class who would pass and who might pass, she was tenure. I am not being paranoid. When I got my assignments returned she never explained WHY something was wrong, or WHAT I needed to do to make it right. Just red marks everywhere. I believed I was stupid. The book "Your First Novel" taught me the WHY something is what it is in writing. I wish I had read it earlier, but I am grateful I took the time to read it.
So there it is. I really encourage readers of this blog to buy the printed editions of my books, I can't stand the formatting of the eBook version and the printed editions are much better. Wait until Monday for "The Boy in The Wood" and the "Look Inside" should be updated in a few days.