The journey of this chapter has been kinda nuts. As discussed last week I wrote and rejected two different versions of the introduction, while trying to find the voice and tone for this chapter. Since ultimately the story would be focusing on Citadel!Dave and City!Dave (since you folks indicated in a poll that you craved more Dave) I decided it’d be better not to have the narration open focused on some extraneous one-scene-only nobodies.
However, things have drifted even further. Originally the plan was to flip-flop between both Daves, scene by scene, as one struggled with a moral dilemma and one struggled with impossible odds. But as I started writing Citadel!Dave… I got WAY more interested in his story than City!Dave’s. So, the entire plot got revamped, those rapid-fire establishing scenes got fleshed out, and, well… now it’s all about Citadel!Dave. I think it’s a stronger story as a result.
In fact, you can read that story right over here, right now: City of Angles //022 – Trouble & Danger.
I wasn’t sure I’d be able to finish this in time for posting, and I actually do have one more scene to go in “Act I” of the chapter. All this rejiggering of the plot is going to change stories down the line as well. I can’t promise I’ll be able to stick to my week-to-week schedule as we close out the final book… I can’t sacrifice quality for quantity, basically. But I’ll do my best to provide both.