Following on from an Editorial Review I commissioned of my book Ego Sum, I have started a revision to see how best to implement the very good suggestions made for its improvement. This is a long haul task, to get it right means taking each chapter apart carefully, looking at how it fits with the rest of the story and then looking at how that can be improved - or even whether it is necessary.
Nor is it an easy task. The yawning trap at each step of the way is that, because I know what I was trying to show, or what I wanted to show, it becomes very easy not to see how it would bore the reader. As the book is based around the idea that the subject character is telling 'his' story to an audience, the second trap is to leave in to much 'telling' and not leave some of it to the imagination of the reader by 'showing' the key elements through the dialogue and letting the reader fill the gaps.
There is a small problem with that in places, since in the early part of the story, the subject spent long periods isolated by language, culture and social position. Later, in a more social context it becomes easier, but still tricky because he wasn't always accepted by those he was surrounded by. I'm not going to put in a spoiler here - the book is a very special project. It's one I believe needs to be told. It needs to be told sympathetically and it is also about someone who many would say is extremely well known ...
At least the legends about him are. The man behind them is even more fascinating than the legends.