I knew from the start that the main goals from the last chapter–the consequences of our actions, needed to be hammered home in this one, along with a healthy helping of God’s redeeming love. The vehicle for that seemed pretty obvious too; just where might the influences of the dragon lead the three characters who were introduced in the previous chapter? Of all the options that came to mind, I chose the most dramatic one, for two reasons. First, I’ve got enough balls up in the air at this point as it is that I knew I needed to make this impactful without dragging it out. Second, the spiritual side of this story has been fairly low key to this point–as it can often be in our own real-life stories, but sometimes God grabs us by the lapels and gives us a hard shake. That’s what I decided I wanted to do here. Over all, I was happy with last chapter’s attempt to show how dire the consequences of our actions can be, but so what…what is the pay off for that pain? That’s what this chapter is supposed to address…but how did it all turn out?
Sometimes after you write something, then go back to read it, you just have to say, “Well, that’s not what I meant for it to be.” That’s the case here, but I don’t think I’m actually disappointed in it either. I while the direction I ended up going especially with the Hildie part wasn’t what I thought it would be, over all, I do believe the main goal of how hopeless life without God is came through. That doesn’t mean I’m not planning to add a little more depth to that particular topic; finding a way make that happen through character dialog might prove a little tricky, but that will be my goal. I did like having Bixly’s point of view being the main driver in the chapter. I felt it was already pretty impactful even before doing some much needed polishing. I also liked how Behlize’s spiritual message ended up bleeding over to Chahrity, with a however. I wasn’t happy with how much jumping around from one point of view to another there ended up being in this chapter. While I’d like to correct that, off the top of my head I’m not seeing any way to make that happen. My final rating…I think this is a solid chapter as far as plot development goes, I just want it to have a little more pizzazz. So, not a rewrite, but it needs a fair amount of polishing.
May God’s mercy and grace lighten your load today and everyday,
Mike
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