Book 2 Chapter 55-Murky Waters
Added 2023-12-21 16:03:08 +0000 UTCSome ramblings on an unrelated note: I was going through some of my old notes for the story, and the plaque scene with Chujiao when Kayla cut things off for good (the meeting that pissed Ashina off) was initially going to be much longer.
I actually like the old script a bit more, but given how a lot of plot details had changed along the way, it no longer fit in the story. The scene was initially going to take place in the late afternoon, and Chujiao's reaction would not be immediate realization. Kayla would have been speaking to Chujiao while standing in front of Wenyuan's plaque, so that it looked like she was speaking on behalf of the plaque, and there was going to be this whole thing with the sunlight from the window moving from shining on the plaque to drawing a line on the ground between Kayla and Chujiao as Chujiao finally realizes that the man she loved is gone for good. The original scene was going to be a lot heavier, but at that point in the actual story, Kayla was already brimming with new plans involving the reforms and so on so forth, having shed the emotional ties of the old Wenyuan much more thoroughly than in the initial outlines, so it makes less sense to write it that way.
Anyways, it's always interesting to look back and see how the story doesn't always go according to plan even when I'm plotting by an outline. But when you get into the details, it doesn't make sense for a character to act or not react and then more scenes get squeezed in, other scenes get cut or shortened, and entire side-plots emerge of their own accord.
