Finished Writing Chapter 4!! 🎉

'Tis done!! I am SO happy 😭.

Standing at 63k words, I think it's the shortest of book two so far? I don't have the code right now to check, but I'm pretty sure it is. The last stretch was me battling with the amount of variation you can have with each character. Honestly, I severely underestimated how many different ways you can stand with not only Hadrian and Alessa — which are a lot 😭 — but now also Rafael and Lance.

The final bits of character interactions weren't long per se, but they did vary a lot depending on your past choices and relationship levels, so I spent much more time on them than I first anticipated.

There'll be a time when all these variations will converge, of course, Hadrian and Alessa being first, but, for now, it's a lot of note writing so I don't forget this or that, or this promise or that threat, or... 😫. You get what I'm saying.

I also had to remove a little cute scene with Alessa that just didn't fit. I planned it for her since I outlined the second book, but when I wrote the scene, I realized it was so out of character. It didn't feel like Alessa — it felt like a clone of her that was saying words I wanted her to say. So, with this, I can say there won't be a 'formal' apology about the threat in the tombs. Alessa just wouldn't approach it like that. To be honest, if you didn't threaten her back, she forgot about it. It's not to say you won't be able to mention — if the opportunity arises, when it's natural in the conversation, I'll definitely add a way for Romanus to bring it up if the player wants, but otherwise, it's laid to rest.

Now, if you did threaten her back, there's a conversation to be had. 😋 Neither of you forgot about it, after all.

So, the chapter se finit!!! Omg, I cannot believe the Ball is next. It feels surreal.

For now, I'll give the game a little pause, so I can recharge and focus on the Bonus Content for this month. After this week's pause, I'll do a deep edit of Chapter 3. Chapter 3 is the longest so far, and it'll be a monumental task, but also a very needed one. There are a few scenes here and there that I need to tweak, plus a lot of errors and typos still to comb through.

I can't wait to be done with it forever!!!! But, first, the edit.

Afterwards, I'm not sure. I'll either jump to coding or start writing the first draft of the Ball. On the one hand, I feel that Chapter 4 is interesting enough to add to the Alpha; on the other hand, I'm still unsure whether to post it and Chapter 5 together. 🤔 Hmm. I'll have this week to make a decision.

About the Bonus Content, would you prefer for me to write part 3 of the Q&A — with Hadrian, the Pirate, Neia, Vallen, and Beka, or do something else? Besides Beka, none of the ROs had specific prompts for them, so I'd have to pick general prompts or adapt one meant for another character. I'm okay with either! I just want to do something that you're interested in. The Bonus Content is for you, after all ❤️

And that's it!!! I don't think I have anything else to report. I actually finished writing Chapter 4 on Monday, but when I tell you I had the worst back pain of my life, you wouldn't believe me 😭 I don't know if I twisted my back while sleeping or exercising, but by Tuesday afternoon, I couldn't move my neck in any direction. Yesterday was the worst day, so I couldn't even sit down and write this humble progress report. But, thankfully, I'm doing much better today — the answer isn't painkillers or creams, it's exercise, who would have thought. Shoutout to the Brazilian TikToker whose video saved me a trip to the hospital. 🙏

I hope your week has been great! Last week, a thunderstorm broke at 4 am here in Lisbon, and I had never seen anything like it. For about 15 minutes, lightning bolts struck every second, one after the other, setting the night ablaze. Thunder just kept coming, this deep, rolling roar. It was like the sky was screaming. It was a great light show and a great reminder that we're ants in the eyes of Mother Nature. I'll definitely use it as inspiration.

Have a great Friday and weekend, and I'll see you very soon!!! 🌹