i wish i wish, upon a fish · 10:20pm Oct 24th, 2022
...That I could go back and redo the first three parts of chapter 40. :T
It's been a general slog althroughout, right? But the first three parts were just so- blegh. I had barely any idea whatsoever about how to take the scene, and rather than try to pen out a clear outline and really think through character motivations, I went instead for heavy-handed descriptors and 'moments.'
It's my biggest problem- I try too often to go for shock and awe and deep, undertone meaning with every sentence, without actually guiding conversations towards a goal. The characters meander and posture and pose just as much as I do, and eventually, I end up 10k words deep without having finished one exchange. It's maddening to go back through and see how I've let this entire thing go on far too long.
There are some scenes I'm still proud of, and there's plenty of memorable little bits in every chapter because I know, at the very least, how to present a spectacle, but that's all there is. Just endless spectacles.
It's gone on so long that I have managed to establish extreme amounts of familiarity and precedent, but I completely sacrificed forward momentum in the process. And it's gonna keep going on because it's only now in the most recent parts, that I've actually begun to write the things that needed to happen. By the time I'm finished with chapter 40, It'll actually take all night to read.
Oy vey. 
I was thinking about forgetting the idea of having it all be one long chapter 40, you know? If I went back and renamed each part of chapter 40 some other name to fit them, do you guys think it would cause backlash? It might confuse people, and though I'd probably make another blog about it, it'd still be pretty confusing. Coming back to find ostensible entire new chapters you didn't know about.
Just... I feel like it'd drag on less if it were something else. Still the same scenes; the same story, but differently branded.
What do you think?
Having short chapters would be cool. I think split into smaller chapters. Maybe make the mc a bit more independent and explore the world to find secret books of necromancy to help his love of necromacy ? Idk?
It is an interesting problem and I do think that ‘rebranding’ the chapter in question would benefit new readers. Confusion in that scenario is inevitable for older readers unfortunately, though I would argue this would be remedied by simply adding author notes to the beginning of the chapters addressing the naming change.
5694364
Mhm, mhm. You're speaking to my heart, here. That's pretty much what I'd thought, as well.
I'm glad you agree that it would definitely help interest new readers, but I think it would also help arouse the old as well. innuendo While it'll make it easier for people just coming in to feel a little less like the chapters are becoming endless monotony, for the people who are already here who know how much of the past little bit of the story has been boringly circuitous, it might take just a bit of the edge off to imagine- instead of every chapter being nothing more than the continuation of the last chapter of the last chapter of the last chapter, etc.- that every new chapter has something more unique and self-contained. Something to, literally, give it a name, rather than 'just another part of chapter 40.'
It might not work for everybody, but some people are still more than none, and if there's any way I can alleviate some discomforts without sacrificing my stupid integrity, I'd like to at least try.
Responding to you has helped me cement my opinion, and I think I've made up my mind. I'll go ahead and start thinking of alternate titles for each part of chapter 40, and sometime today or tomorrow I'll put this into effect along with a blog explaining my actions- as well as patch notes in my AN's detailing the change.
Thanks for the help!