Author's Notes: The Emperor's Dream Chapter Twenty-one

Hello and welcome to my author’s notes for chapter twenty-one of The Emperor’s Dream! This is the part where I re-read the chapter and write up my honest thoughts about it. It’s a first draft, after all!

If you haven’t read chapter twenty-one yet, you can read it here.

If you are quite far behind, you can read chapter one here. Remember, these are first drafts only, so the final published version might change a little or a lot, but hopefully you either enjoy or learn something from seeing the process.

Now on with this week’s author’s notes!

• Welcome to the home stretch. I knew what the ending to this book would be before I even started, so when I finally got to write this section, I was really excited. And, I'm happy to say that on re-reading this chapter, I still felt the same amount of excitement to share it. I hope you enjoy the ride.
• I love Ban's loyalty. I'm a sucker for a friend/side-kick who's with our main character to the very end.
• I think I could have added a bit more about the reactions of the other chiefs to the result of the vote. Although the vote itself is big and important, the end of this chapter feels a little anti-climactic, or like the end is a tad rushed.
• With all that, I feel like this chapter is one where I'm really happy with Wanyi's voice. This feels like the Wanyi I picture in my head. In some of the other chapters, I think he comes across a little hot-headed, a little insecure or immature, but here is the cool, calm, collected leader that I envisioned. During editing, I should use this as a bit of a reference. Obviously, Wanyi can change mannerisms and feelings a bit for different situations, and of course he should develop over the course of the story, but this feels closer to who he is at his core.

I think that’s all for this week, friend! What questions do you have? I’d also love to hear your feedback. Let me know your thoughts!

And again, if you haven’t read chapter twenty-one yet, you can do so here. That’ll make this whole post make a lot more sense.

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Until next time!