Progress Report

Almost 4k words!

And with these three thousand and nine hundred words, I finished Lance's route!! 🎉🎉 I adore him 🥺 I'm aware I say this of every character, but, damn, if I didn't like them, I wouldn't make them ROs. This scene changed during the first draft — I was planning something else, but as I wrote, I realized it was too soon. Lance is too slippery and guarded, and what I wrote fits him and his romance/friendship and, yes, even rivalry so much better.

There's a passage there that's probably my favorite romance dialogue I've written of Lance so far, but if I'm honest, I really, really enjoyed writing the low relationship version of his last scene. This features a sharper, meaner Lance, and Romanus, too, could go bite for bite with him, and I don't know, I really enjoyed their dynamic.

Especially when, by the end of it, there was newfound respect for each other.

Here's a small quote: 'For a moment— brief, but there — comes an understanding between you. Perhaps this bard isn't so bad after all. You appreciate someone who appreciates a good bleeding.'

Notice how I said 'Lance's route' is done and not Lance himself? Well, that's because he's not. Towards the end of his presence in this chapter, a conversation can split into four paths, depending on what you did earlier on, whether or not you went to meet a certain guard, etc. I already filled out the longest version of that conversation, but left the others behind to fill out later. The same happened to a couple of other small choices and alternative paths.

As you can see in these very organized bullet points:

I have 9 such little paths to fill out, and Lance features in the last 8. So, the bard isn't quite done yet, but it's very close!!! Last week, I had two days cut short from me because of unpredictable events; otherwise, I could have been done with Lance entirely, but alas!

Next week, the goal is to fill out everything behind and be halfway into Hadrian's scene!!!!!! I am SO excited for him 😭 I think this will be my favorite Hadrian romance scene of the two books so far. Perhaps. Mayhaps. Let us hope so. Either way, I'm very excited.

At the beginning of his scene, there's a fair bit of variation (just like Alessa's after him), but after that, it's straightforward. So, I'm hoping to be done with that rougher path next week so I can take the latter half of his scene and Alessa's the week after!

That's the hope, at least.

I hope your weekend has been great! Have a wonderful week ahead.🌹