My Story pt. Two.

And so, I continued with three more installments in that series.  I invented Altesea and made my technician its long lost prince.  With each installment the characters became less cartoon, and more flesh and blood.  After the story was all finished, I felt something was missing.  I had contrived happily ever afters for all the characters, but something was definitely missing. I set to revising.  I threw out the improbability, and signed the death sentences for several of my favorite characters.  In the end I had a story very like Escape From Iasse.  But I didn't write it all down.  I was afraid to start.  A friend of mine, (lets call him Themistocles, since no American boy has that name,) said I should forget my hesitation and start writing.  Early in February of 2011 I wrote my first sentence.  In August I wrote, "the end."  My characters had surprised me along the way.  When I started I had no idea just how wicked Alyssus D'Avdion could be, or that Adelina would fall in love with Dr. Marcellus Lyston, or that Marcellus had a wife and two kids back at home.  That was a shock.  Three months ago, at the end of my rewriting, I learned Princess Maria had some spunk in her.  We sent the first few chapters to my writer friend Becky Melby, who said the story had potential, but it needed work. After a few months of rewriting I sent the first five pages to a contest.  The judges ripped my work apart and fed it to their cats.  One incredibly cynical judge said the only likable character in the story was the evil king.  I was at that time fourteen years old.  I sobbed and threw the judges' responses on the ground.  I declared I would never write again.  Daddy talked sense into me, and Mama helped me cope.  About a week later I rewrote those first five pages.  I wrote the first scene from a completely different viewpoint.  That contest grew me in ways I could not imagine.  Wherever you are, cruel anonymous judge, I thank you.  Over all, we rewrote for a year.  A whole year.  I am now working on book two. I want to get the five book series finished before I query agents.