The Wayhaven Chronicles - Update+ 13/Sept/2024

Well, my internet was mostly back this week! :D

I always take even half-working internet as a bonus these days, lol. But having it mostly back did mean I could finally finish up the social media this week!

But apart from that, my full focus was Chapter Four. It’s a more linear chapter—waaay more than the doozy of a variable chapter that was the previous one, lol!—so I really want to get ahead on this one.

Which I have been doing even better than I was pushing for! The big opening scene is already finished! It includes quite a bit of exposition about Li-Sar and what they’ve been up to, and that was fun to start sowing all the seeds of foreshadowing, hehe! ;D

I do sometimes get asked about advice on how to avoid telling instead of showing, so to that I say—don’t worry! For a start, it’s your story, and you can write it how you want, always remember that! All these writing ‘rules’ are guidelines, advice. You don’t have to choose to follow them if it doesn’t suit your style. I’ve read plenty of stories where I’ve been told a character is scared and not shown it through a paragraph of description—it reads just fantastic either way!

I do try and not to do big exposition dumps, but I don’t worry about it when the story genuinely needs it. Just write it in a fun and digestible way, and your reader will be more informed without it being too bogged down in the scene!

Having multiple characters to bounce off each other and react to the information is always a great way to break up the wealth of information, as well as having the MC react to it too with choices in Wayhaven’s case! This is also where having Unit Bravo in for meetings when this kind of things happens is perfect, even better when the LI can have some kind of emotional moment to it all too, hehe! ;D

I’m already part way through the next scene, which is another much more linear one where it’s only two characters, which makes things A LOT smoother to write!

I do love my branching scenes and variation, but it’s nice to have a more straight-forward chapter as a break too, lol!

And speaking of break, I will be away next week, trying to recharge my batteries and rest my brain! But I will be back on the 23rd September and diving straight back into it…especially considering the scene I’m currently working on. Things are getting…electric ;)

But I’ve still got an Update+ snippet ready to go for you guys next week!

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For Update+ this week, I can’t talk about breaking up exposition with fun scenes and not share a little snippet of one from M’s romance!

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On seeing me, Mason/Morgan grips the top of his/her jeans and yanks them up before brushing down his/her shirt. He/She then sweeps his/her fingers through his/her hair. Dark locks of it fall and curl around his/her sharply attractive features in a way that makes my breath catch. 

"Are you…preening?" Farah/Felix asks with a tilt of his/her head in Mason/Morgan's direction as a slow grin begins to form. "You are! You're totally preening for [Name].”

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Hope you all have the most fantastic week ahead! We'll be offline for longer than usual this time, so I’ll talk to you all when I get back after diving straight back into the scene I’m already ecstatically excited to share with you all, hehe! :D

(I will also be straight back to answering messages, comments, and doing pledge rewards the moment I'm back! Apologies for the wait in advance!)