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

Hello and welcome to my author’s notes for chapter twenty-three 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-two 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!

• This might be the shortest chapter in the book by word-count, but it felt like a necessary addition. I like having a scene like this to slow the pacing down. We've had the big, exciting, climactic moment. Now we need to coast along to the end.
• I hope this scene also brings with it some truth. When all that you have been hoping for and working towards is taken from you, all you end up with is what was truly most important all along. Though he's hurting, I think Wanyi's longings are well-placed. He cares for people, and people will always be more important than positions of power, than one's country, even more important than one's home.

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-three yet, you can do so here. That’ll make this whole post make a lot more sense.

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Until next time!