Total pages in book: 210
Estimated words: 200837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1004(@200wpm)___ 803(@250wpm)___ 669(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 200837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1004(@200wpm)___ 803(@250wpm)___ 669(@300wpm)
Then, of course, I had to go back and add it all in.
So while Clara’s character arc didn’t change, her intrinsic qualities did. The Spark Maiden thing was there from the start—but it wasn’t a ‘Spark Maiden’ it was just ‘Maiden’. (As you can see from the ‘before book’ blurb.) She IS a princess. She IS haughty. She is up-city all the way. And she’s never going to apologize for this, either. This is what makes her special.
It was her ‘Poised, Proper, Polite’ upbringing that molded her into the woman she is today. She is in control of herself. And this, my friends, is a superpower. Just look around. Look at all the people losing their shit in real life. Out-of-control emotions have been the downfall of more than one king.
Not this princess. She’s wears her crown and it is not crooked. She had her moments at the end of Part 1, but I like that she lost control. She had never seen herself like that. It was a shock. Not only that, it was a reminder that she chose this “Poised, Proper, Polite’ lifestyle. And even though none of this is on the page, at some point she decided it was worth hanging on to. If I had to guess it was in that restaurant talking to Tyse after her trip to the health center.
Finn was never going to end up with Clara in this book. I had planned a few other scenes with the two of them but it didn’t really fit the plot. So maybe in another book. There is a lot of set up for future books between Clara and Finn, I will say that.
I know there will be some readers complaining about Finn’s early character or whining about the lack of trigger warnings with him—but I don’t care. I don’t do trigger warnings for books like this. If I have an actual trigger warning on one of my books it’s not a book like this, OK? It’s fucked up shit.
This is just a darkish romantasy in my opinion and it does not require a trigger warning of any kind.
Anyway. Finn has the most growth in this book of all the characters. Even Clara, and she went to another dimension. He’s not perfect. He’s very far from perfect, but he’s not evil and he’s not stupid, either.
He chose to save Jasina. Why? To ease his guilt about not saving Clara? I mean, maybe. I don’t, not for one second, think he’s a ‘changed man’. Not at all. But he’s progressing. He’s learning. And I’m really looking forward to Finn’s part in the next book.
Jasina was kind of part of the initial plot. The Rebellion was in the ‘before book’ blurb. But I didn’t know I’d have four points of view until just before I started writing the book. It took me a while to figure out how to structure this book. It’s definitely not some simple ‘her-chapter-him-chapter’ like most dual POV romance books.
I’m bored with those, so I’m trying to find ways to make story more exciting again and carefully planned ‘bouncing pov’s’ is one of the ways I’m experimenting.
But I love, love, love Jasina Bell. She’s amazing.
I love everything about her. I love that she is unapologetically… slutty. Not in the strictest sense of the word—as she even said in her own words—but she knows she’s pretty, she knows the men look at her. And while she does have brains, what’s wrong with being the classic femme fatal? Especially if she’s bringing her brains to the table. Not to mention her note-taking skills.
Then we have the tower people. This was a complete surprise. I remember talking to the guys during a writing zoom and telling them that Clara just walked through the tower doors and I had NO IDEA what came next. I mean, I had a general sense of what I wanted to happen, but those tower people showed up and bam, my world shook. I didn’t even know Anneeta was in the story at the beginning of Part 2. Even when she knocked on the damn door and woke Tyse up. I didn’t actually make Anneeta the god until way later in the story. Though, she was always Tyse’s little helper in trying to get to the lower levels to find his ‘disturbance’.
I think I knew pretty early on that Tyse was gonna be a washed-up super soldier, but the augments… that was in the moment. Everything about the Omega Outlands was in the moment. Rodge was born out of the need to not make Tyse walk down ten stories of stairs just to get some fuckin’ food. As far as the guys selling spark, I have no clue where they came from.
But I do know this: ALL OF THAT WAS ALREADY WRITTEN when it came time to save Anneeta and take her out of the tower. I didn’t have to go back and add in a single thing to make that plot point work. It was always there.