Release Notes: Royal Pains Chapter 3 · 7:55pm Feb 2nd, 2012
Hiyas! Xplayer here. I plan on posting a blog with each chapter release to share my thoughts. This post will focus on the writing process and some "behind the scenes" notes about thee chapter. Let's begin.
Writing Process:
Collaborative writing has become much easier due to Google Docs, where writers can interact in a document in real time. Unfortunately, Google Docs doesn't solve the biggest problem of collaborative writing, scheduling. John has very limited access to a computer, and usually does most of his writing at school. My schedule doesn't always line up with his, so we rarely get to work together for more than an hour at a time. This is why our progress may seem frustratingly slow. If we can produce one quality 3000+ word chapter per month, I will be satisfied.
Our roles in writing Royal Pains are very much like those of an architect and engineer. John is the architect, he outlines the story and writes the first draft of a scene. I am the engineer (I solve problems) who makes the story "work" through additions, omissions, and lots of editing. I do write a few of the scenes, but usually John does the first draft. Even though we're very much like author and editor, we do collaborate on all our ideas, so we have decided that we shall be called "co-authors."
Chapter Notes:
One of the criticisms I received was that the dialogue was not believable, so I put extra effort into making Blueblood/Bluebelle sound more "regal" along with the other characters to sound more distinctive. Feedback on this point is much appreciated.
Trixie/Presto does have the habit of referring to himself/herself in the third person. It was challenging to depict that without the dialogue being confusing. I think that the dialogue is consistent enough throughout that this is clear, but again, feedback would be appreciated.
This isn't meant to be a "torture Blueblood" fic. His exposition isn't a sadistic desire to give him a tortured childhood on our part. It's just how we decided to portary him so that he'd be interesting.
Yes, the two worlds will interact soon. We believed it necessary to provide ample exposition since most of the characters are OCs or don't get much development in the show. We aren't just switching worlds arbitrarily, even though it may seem so.
As always, thanks for reading Royal Pains, and your comments are always appreciated.
