A Maddening Process (Patreon)

Class Consultant is missing something. Maybe I'm just in a mood, but I don't think the story is working for me. This is completely normal for my writing process, though. I really have to get in and explore an idea to figure out if it's working (so, sorry if you get a few stubby stories posted here while I experiment).

So, while I'm not calling a post-mortem on the story yet, I'm going to write my thoughts on what's not working.

Nothing feels earned.

I've got this character with a lot of hardship, and the reader should sympathize with that. But there's something, maybe the system, maybe the way things progress, that doesn't feel earned. I think maybe classes evolving being based on lineage might be too cheap, but I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around other ways that could happen.

Directionless

Something that always helps me write a story is having a purpose. If the main character has a reason to do what they're doing, it feels great. Promise, progress, payoff. I might have lost some of that with the start of this book. I'm also having trouble doing the split system, where the MC is moonlighting as a Class Consultant.

So, there might be a few issues that I can work out, maybe not. I guess this story is a bit of an experiment, something to help me reset from Newt and Demon so I can go back in and make sure that story remains a pure SoL. The things I write in between are more like ideas that might turn into good books. Sometimes I start writing a book, and it's not good. No amount of polish can cover up those marks that bring it down, but that's the game.

I'm going to let CC cool down for a few days and see how I feel about it after that. Until then, I hope everyone is enjoying watching my weird process is real-time. I thought it might be fun to post incomplete works here as a bonus, which should give you a good idea about my process.

So, in conclusion: I think CC might be a better PURE SoL story. Probably Isekai if I'm honest. I love the dynamic between Dran and Grog, I think they're very funny together. Let me know if you liked seeing this process so far, and if you'd like me to keep posting this kind of stuff. Also let me know if you think it's annoying to get snippets of a story that might not get finished. I feel like it's all in good fun while I cool down from N&D, but you never know.

Thanks for reading! Thanks for supporting!