I did a post on loose ends a while back…well, let me say that I didn’t clean them all up in follow-on chapter, not by any means. And that’s okay. Honestly, I think that foreshadowing is such an important part of story telling–which is basically exposing a loose thread, that you’re always going to have loose threads to keep track of that will eventually need to be stitched back into the rest of the plot. While keeping track of some of my loose ends I realized I’d set something in motion several chapters back that needed some attention sooner rather than later. The something I’m referring to is the king’s Golden Arm, Sir Behkworth learning that the royal siblings were looking into corruption within The Watch–the Royal Guard under Behkwoth’s command. When I took the ‘action’ of letting one of my protagonists know that someone was out to get him, that meant I’d eventually have to write about his ‘reaction’. That’s what this chapter mainly deals with, so my intent was to use it to further the palace intrigue subplot, but as I worked through some of the possible and plausible ways to do that, I realized it might be fun to develop Queen Vhanity’s character a little more while I was at it. I remember I had fun writing this chapter, but that doesn’t mean it was well written. Let’s go take a look…
Mentally, I’m still drumming my fingers trying to sort out my feelings on what I just read. The word “compelling” comes to mind, as in…it wasn’t. The writing, especially early on was lackluster. I did like a few things. Vhanity’s overall character worked for me, as did Behkworth’s. She was the right kind of shallow and he was yuk in the right way too. And I thought the way Behkworth manipulated both the prince’s valet and the queen was plausible as well. So, I think I would have really liked the chapter if it had a little more grit to it, something that would get the reader feeling some emotion instead of just being a series of events to move the plot along. Is it worth keeping? I believe so. I think it lands somewhere between a polish and a rewrite.
Because this is my first post of 2026, let me wish you a happy and blessed new year,
Mike
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