Extended Writing Update

I've been burning the midnight oil this weekend filling in some choice options - to the tune of a few thousand more words :) I forgot to actually count them this time lol but it's a lot.

It feels like a treat to delve back into chapter 10. It's one of my favorites because I get to write one of my favorite npcs through it. This chapter really added a lot to my worldbuilding in terms of figuring out the Den's recent history - like, ~10-15 years before MC joined up. 

It was more tragic in some ways than I expected T_T Chapter 10 doesn't get into that, unfortunately, but I've got it in mind for side story content in the future, and possibly for exploring in later books in minor ways. I actually wrote a whole "moment" for chapter 10 related to that time period that I had to cut. It was too much and too unrelated to MC's goals. But I've got it saved for another day. I've done so much cutting, rewriting, and new writing this weekend but I think the cuts are the thing that's most challenging.

I know the "kill your darlings" strategy of editing can be a little divisive, but I find it works miracles for me. There's always so much I want to put into a story, so my best work tends to be pared down to about half of what I actually have in my head. I'm always thinking about where each character's coming from, 3-4 events in their past that influence their conversations, their current motivations, and the overall context around them. And that's great, but the problem comes when I want the reader to also know every last little detail of that.

What can I say? I get excited about sharing this stuff 😅 But truth be told, that's not the best way to tell a story. I could infodump all day but the story flows better (in my humble opinion) when I sacrifice some knowledge to allow the reader to discover things over time on their own, and form their own opinions.

Anyway, those are my musings for the week. Here's this week's preview!

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"You know, you could've sent me a message to come to the Archives. I would've come."

"Better for us to make the walk to the Den," I shake my head. "The fewer people who know we're doing this, the better."