The past few chapters have been fast paced and pretty intense; which I’ve been very pleased with. The thing is, you can’t–or at least I can’t, keep that up for a whole book. Plus, I knew I had to deal with the trauma of what Shahdow is going through after realizing that he’s the one to ‘blame’ for the dragon’s appearance, and that he just killed a beast with human features. That is some heavy stuff, but it still leads to a down shift pacing wise. But not necessarily as far as intensity goes. The weighty subject matter could lead to some very thought–and emotion, provoking scenes. That was my main goal. I wanted to work on Shahdow’s character arch while keeping the looming threat of the dragon alive, even if it fades into the background for a bit. So, let’s go see how it turned out.
EHLSEWHERE Chapter Thirty Five
Sometimes your own writing takes you by surprise. I didn’t plan to put the gospel story into this chapter, and I do plan out my chapters before I start writing them. I had planned on Shahdow sitting with the book and working through his problems, but when it came time for figuring out which Bible story might help him do that best for what he was dealing with, there really was only one answer. I think it was a good answer too. Then, after that piece was done–much quicker than I thought it would take, I had to ask myself, “Now what would Shahdow do…’because he had to’?” That lead back to the Honor Garden and another sparring session–which I was leery of because repetition is the key to “boring”, but I think the interaction between the boys and the Arms Master’s reaction carried it. When all was said and done, I liked the chapter. As far as the mechanics of the writing went, there were some areas that were a little muddled, making it hard to follow exactly what was going on, in both the reading and sparring sessions. That will need cleaned up, but I didn’t see anything that I feel needed a full rewrite. Plus it passed the most critical test…I wanted to keep reading when I reached the end of the chapter
All the best to you and yours,
Mike
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