​
It’s hard to be comfortable with yourself. But it doesn’t matter at all what other people think about you. Except, ironically, they like you a lot more when you ARE yourself. If a person is fake all the time, they are boring (because they never talk about what they’re interested in) and weak (to care so much for the opinion of others.) So I exhaustively “rewrote” each story to remove things I only included out of insecurity—in short, returned it to its original form. There was barely a story that wasn’t touched by the extraneous-material-syndrome—some just a paragraph, others an entire plot or subplot.

• City of the Invaders was first published with a Christian-market slant. The EC characters were Christians living in a world hostile to their faith. This isn’t the story. Religion is not what divides the EC from the Invaders. Rather they are part of the same culture, heading together towards big changes neither of them foresee yet.
• The Birthday Present contained a reference to growing maturation and the concept Lucy isn’t “ready yet” for her task because she is still a teenager. This has nothing to do with the story and suggests the journey is personal for her. The story is about Aure's personal growth, not Lucy's. 
• Victoria: A Tale of Spain was first published as two separate shorts set in a world of fake history countries. Part of it was viewed as a remake of Millhaven Castle, when it was a different story altogether. “Alyce” also had some (asterisked, but still visible) profanity from young female characters and “Victoria” had a young lady being murdered. These were false to the harmless quality of the stories. Both Vic and Aly were moved into one book set in a real historical era, with a light tone to the story.
• Ryan and Essie tried to develop a Space Trilogy-type C.S. Lewis sci-fi theology—the ancient people at the time of Noah had the ability to infect other planets and that is why they were cut off. This appeared in a few paragraphs in one chapter. It limits the book’s audience unnecessarily.
• Consuela was part of the “Valley Stories” fake history series. It had no relevance to either Victoria or Alyce and its being there disguised the fact the other two stories were really one book. It was moved into a sci-fi world where its stylized discussion of social class would be more appropriate.
• Bellevere House had a strong romance angle and romantic scenes involving some of the characters. Now there is only a hint the main characters will end up together, with no certainty, which is significantly more truthful. The romance in Mansfield Park isn't successful and there is no need to disguise that. While Fanny could very well end up with Edmund, a personal romantic fondness for him might not be underlying reason. 
• Facets of Fantasy had “Millhaven Castle,” as an unnecessary addition. This novella had already appeared in conjunction with "The Birthday Present" and didn’t need to be repeated. I made some slight changes to MC and wasn’t aware they could just be uploaded into a changed Birthday Present document, so I put them in the next book I published. MC took Facets of Fantasy on a tangent, distracting from the other stories.
• A Year with the Harrisons had a lot of (asterisked, but visible) profanity in the original Fb release and a comedy area containing some polygamists in the later published book. This area was intended to be ridiculous and show a marked contrast to the respectable Harrisons, but it could easily be misunderstood. Luna was also crippled for the entire book, from an accident suffered in college. All of these brought exaggerated attention to the plot of Joe's homeschooled daughters, which is actually a small thread amid a larger story about the state of religion and pop culture.
• The Test of Devotion has changed so much it’s barely recognizable. Changes to it are complete. As I’m releasing it on preorder next month, I’ll talk about this book separately on its own.

And there will be more updates.

For the series of really odd characters who come in pairs, Viltan and Ethan make a textbook addition. Ethan first appeared in very, very early drafts as Essie’s outer-space twin counterpart. She had one and Ryan had one (Rianna.) But Ethan’s personality went in a weird direction that isn’t necessary based on his role as Essie’s twin. He’s . . . silent, yet opinionated. He’s calm, but seems tense all the time. (Or are people just tense around him?) And while most of his activity is making friends with people, he’s somehow hostile.

Viltan isn’t explained at all. He showed up in a later draft of the story, in which Tarvelas also first appeared, after the plot with the twins was created. He had a lot of interest in Tarvelas and some of that still lingers in the final book. He’s never offered anything to the story and doesn’t have a reason to be friends with Essie’s twin—yet they are definitely friends. They seem inseparable. His duplicitous nature seems almost random and guaranteed to do nothing but get him in trouble. It almost strains credibility that he wouldn’t find another way to occupy his time.

But Viltan and Ethan do lend a lot of color—albeit, mostly shades of gray and orange (gray because Viltan is always trying to hide who he is and orange because that’s the color of Ethan’s hair)—to the areas around King Karpalff’s city of Nofalla. So they’re both likable characters, although a strange duo.
​
And there will be more updates.