Scarlet Broken Pedestal Delayed - Rework in progress. · 8:21pm Nov 2nd, 2020
Okay, so, following up on my previous blog post, I felt I should go into more details about what's been going on with the story.
The short version is that, due to some internal concerns about the pacing and overall cohesion and narrative integrity of the story, my editors and I have decided to go back to the drawing board and reevaluate what we've got and retool our outlines as is needed. As a result, the outline from chapter 9 and on is going to be receiving a complete and total reworking behind the scenes, and until that's done, Scarlet: Broken Pedestal is effectively going to be on a form of hiatus.
The long version gets significantly more complicated. See, as I've been writing the last few chapters, I've been feeling like something was wrong with the story. Some part of it just wasn't clicking with me. It was hard to put my finger on it, and so I eventually decided, with the agreement of my two editors, to call in a writer/editor with a LOT more experience and a better eye for detail than the rest of us. That was Goldenwing, author of the Empty Horizons series. We all sort of wound up agreeing that, with the current outline, there was no sense of urgency. Without spoiling anything, it was basically a string of bad things happening to the characters and them reacting. There was little initiative on their part and even less agency. Plus, there were some actions taken by the antagonists that were just beyond incredulous in their believability, in retrospect.
As a result, the story is going to be getting something of a rework. We're going to be going through the outline and rewriting the plot beats to help facilitate a better feel, a more coherent narrative, and a stronger sense of thematic consistency with story 1. Rest assured, though, that nothing that has already been published will receive any noteworthy alterations. Those are there already. They are set in place, and barring a complete and utter disaster, so to speak, I have no desire to change them and force people to backtrack for new details.
I do not know for sure how long this hiatus is going to last. It all depends on just how sweeping and expansive the changes we decide to make are going to be. We're still talking things over, so it could take a while yet. But don't worry, I still plan on finishing this sucker. :)
Hmm. Alright. Well, I trust you, so I'm sure it'll all work out in the end.
Trust your feelings luke.