Progress Report

Hello!

I'm sorry for taking so long to post this Progress Report. I meant to write one on Saturday, but life got in the way.

This past week went well! For the first three or four days I focused on the Bonus Content — which ended up being way longer than I planned — and then, I continued finishing the first draft of Part 2.

If you've been following me for a long, you know how much I love the handwriting stage, but I'll be honest, this part has been challenging! I wrote three different ways that the 'revelation' with Vallen may go, and I'm still unsure which one I like best. 😩

The problem with IF and, especially, in the MC uncovering a secret or coming to a big realization, is that you're in a battle between having the reveal early on because I know that the readers have realized it long ago or having the reveal where it's best storytelling wise. And I keep going back and forth on this.

I know how frustrating it is when you put two and two together and your character is still oblivious. It makes you want to yell at the screen, but, being on this side of creating, a premature revelation may ruin the best storytelling moments. I have a perfect moment with Vallen when Romanus does it; when they connect everything, and it clicks, and the scene right after is just chef's kiss.

But this means that for the first part of your 'date', you won't connect who Vallen is. If you have the necessary clues, you'll be on the defense and the text will mention how odd you feel like you're just missing something that's in front of you when it comes to Vallen — you'll note little things in her expressions, and double meanings in her words.

But is that too frustrating to readers? Would you rather know immediately and not have that perfect confrontation?

Ahhhh. I've written three versions, as I said, so I think I'll decide when I'm writing the second draft. Whichever flows best will be it. But yeah, that's why this scene has been taking a little bit longer. The Vallen date is the only scene in this book where I didn't plan anything — It's a blank in my outline book.

The goal for next week is to finish Vallen's date and the subsequent meeting with a... thief who will take you to your new Tarragona home. After that, I'll write the version where you don't meet Vallen and travel with the gang to your new abode.

This past night, I woke up randomly at around 5 am, with a sinking feeling in my gut — looking back, I probably felt some kind of pre-shake — when, suddenly, I heard a thud thud in my bed. Still groggy, I thought it was my cats fighting beneath my bed (lol!) but then, the bed started shaking, and the walls were trembling for a good 10 seconds, and holy shit, it was the most intense earthquake I ever felt in my life. Legitimate thought the building was about to go down.

Thankfully, my building did not go down, and an Android warning informed me that a seism of 5.9 hit the ocean near Lisbon. What a great alarm clock 😆. I couldn't sleep much after that, so I was tired in the morning and couldn't write anything - but I had a good session this afternoon!

This is all. Say safe out there, it seems the Earth is going mad alongside us humans. Were I religious, I might have believed it a sign of something.🌹