First drafts revisited

It has been quite a while since I wrote my first draft, and then revised it to a second draft because of eliminating most of the Iliad material that had been in the nanowrimo draft. I had wanted to use the Iliad as the backdrop for the story of Alexander but as I continued with the novel it made changes all the while, and now that I have completed the so called first draft, I continue to make changes to it, albeit, all in my head.

So while I am writing this as thinking aloud kind of exercise, I am ruminating over the changes in my original novel to its present state which is about to be launched.  But the problem is that I want to use the correct methods of laying out the story with the guidance of a good word processing group known as Scrivener.  I learned that to even be considered that the presentation must meet certain guidelines.

Now I have been reading all kinds of advice about how to write a first draft and what follows: some suggestions include joining writing groups, having critiques, etc.  I am one of those who is like the housewife who hires a maid who has to have the house cleaned before the maid gets there. I want the book to be nearly publishable before ever letting a group listen to it or read it to give comments.

The real reason for that is that I do not believe that an artist or a sculptor would ever let someone else make suggestions to which color of paint to use or which eyebrow should be higher or lower. The creative work is your own, and you must make it your own as much as possible until finally ready for exhibition.   Besides, I am rather possessive and jealous of my own statements and remarks when writing my thoughts, and I don't like them to be subject to scrutiny until I have over addressed them myself. I am extremely changeable.

One of the things I want to develop in my novel on Alexander is the relationship between him and his classmates while studying in each and every aspect. I was a bit too chronological in my original and I want it to be realized more naturally through more than just a classroom setting.  A few incidents I did use the times spent together while performing an assignment, but not nearly as much as I will do in the next revision.  My entire emphasis is on the culture that influenced not only Alexander but also all his classmates as they are pretty much all schooled in the same knowledge.  All the members of his group would have been exposed to the same studies so that they would immediately know when any mention or reference was made about a god or goddess or story or play.  My original intent was to have some of these thoughts always running through Alexander's mind, but before I could do that even I had to lay out the story.  So I am working it through my own mind all the time. I know this sounds dreary now, but the idea is that every Greek or Macedonian knew who Zeus or Athena was, and did not need to be told.  And believe it or not, this is all that any of them ever knew day in and day out, whether through Homer, Euripides or Sophocles.  They all knew who Ajax is, who Ion is, who and why Thetis interfered with her sons life as she had done.  It is my purpose to use the novel to acquaint the average person in the world who knows nothing about these times to finally have an opportunity to learn something about them.

Am concluding this thought and talking to myself process now.