Dreams Of A Love Indestructible - Draft Two Complete.

I write this, having just completed a two week long edit of my draft manuscript. It was an arduous task, re-examining grammar and punctuation, removing what seemed to be copious amounts of repetition and tightening up the story line significantly. I also expanded some of the characters roles which added an extra cohesiveness to the plot.

So now I have, what I think is a significantly better manuscript, but I know that there is a long way to go. What I need now is for volunteers who would be willing to look over my manuscript and offer me some constructive (or even destructive) criticism on my work.

What works? What doesn't work? Does it work at all?

If you are at all interested, please get in touch with me via email - banistersmind@internode.on.net and I'll arrange for a .pdf to be emailed to you. It's 205 pages long, about 80,000 words long. To give you an idea of what it's about - here's a synopsis...

Dreams Of A Love Indestructible is a story about a young man whose spirit refuses to die.

Denny Banister had it all – a successful university degree, a love for the guitar and a passion for Sonya – his soul mate whom he wishes to marry. Tragically, Denny is struck down with inoperable cancer and he is destined to die.

At the moment of his death in an Australian hospice, however, Denny's spirit passes from his destroyed body and into the body of a drug addicted young man - who lies in a trauma room, clinging to life on the other side of the world.

Andy DeVries stands on a precipice. He lives life on a razor's edge, dealing in drugs and moving through a dangerous underworld of criminals and con artists. He is alienated from his father and he stands to lose the only thing that matters to him - a place at a prestigious Conservatory for classical guitar in Chicago. For Andy has a love of the guitar as fierce as Denny's once was.

Having been snatched from a near fatal overdose Andy is suddenly plagued by dreams of another life - a life he has never known but it is as familiar to him as his own memories. He dreams of a love he has never known yet he knows this love intuitively. Having been given a chance at redemption Andy begins to change.

Something has been awakened in him - a spirit of a once proud man. And as Soneya grieves for her lost love Andy begins a quest to find her - knowing her only by the dream...the dream of a love indestructible...


Please do consider participating in helping me. I hope to self publish the novel in early 2010 and am excited to see it on a book shelf.

Thank you in advance,

Dean from Australia.

Editing the "Dream" Part Two.

I've put in serious hours in the past week editing and re-writing my manuscript and already the story has started to evolve in a much different way to the original document that has appeared here. The one thing I have noticed during the editing process is the trap of using words and certain phrases repetitively throughout - so that has been my aim in the initial edit - to remove or reword certain passages so that they sound a little more unique and a lot less repetitive.

I have also focused on character development. Looking at each of the characters and refining their contribution to the story. In particular I have changed Andy's story quite a bit. I mean he is still heading in the same direction but I have made clearer some of the things that help him to realize that his life is pretty much in the shitter right now and that he needs to change. I have also made Denny more of a character in so much as his spirit is more of a character.

I'll continue to hone and refine the document in the coming weeks and then get some input from other people. A friend of mine who does proof reading as a side thing has offered to help me out so I hope she can really take my manuscript apart and help me improve it.

I have also started making contact with the publishers of the Foo Fighters music - asking for their permission to reproduce the lyrics of the song "Come Alive" which features on their 2008 release "Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace". I have used a couple of lines from that song in the story mainly as cues to drive Andy's thought processes during his reverie. I have also used a couple of lines of dialogue from the movie Bladerunner which I only just remembered doing when I started reviewing the manuscript this week so I have emailed Warner Brothers in the States with a similar request. We'll see if they actually respond.

I'll talk more soon.

Dean from Australia.

And That's Where We'll Leave The Dream...For Now...

You're gonna hate me aren't you.

I've decided to leave it at that insofar as posting anymore of the novella for now. I finished a draft manuscript earlier this week and now I have begun the arduous task of sitting down and reading the entire document from beginning to end, reviewing it, adding to it, subtracting from it and generally picking the shit out of it.

But I have also decided to keep you updated on it via this portal - posting notes and possibly even video blogs keeping you up to date with my progress. I'll also be putting the feelers out for help too. The big thing I am hoping to get assistance with right now is with a design for a cover for the novel. If you know of anyone out there who would be interested in putting something together for me then please put them in contact with me.

The "Dream" has been realized in draft form - now the real work has begun on polishing up this document in preparation for self publishing...

Dean M.