The Hollow Man (Page 3 of 3)

Chapter Two is up, hooray lots of talking!

So I've run into a rather, tiny, gigantic, ever so wonderful problem.  There are several things going on in the war that Silas could be involved with given his recent, shall we say, murder extravaganza.  I have no idea which one to choose, they all seem interesting, but I want to pick the most interesting one, suppose I should just share what I've got so far.
Silas joins a rag tag group of blood thirsty bastards for a shadow campaign behind enemy lines, looting, burning pillaging, etc etc
Silas joins a group going to the eastern kingdoms hoping to bring the undecided Khans under the kings banner
Silas discovers the true meaning of Christmas
Silas and his Brother both join the King as body guards because of increased assassination attempts
Silas joins the secret police and murders people who seem to be getting uppity

The event is more catalyst for the growth Silas does in the first 'act'  I want to show the reader the world and what's in it, give you characters to love and hate, that sort of thing.

Praise, embraces, with some hesitation, the average solider follows him gladly, but Knights and Lords look down on him.  The King treats Silas as a weapon, and as to the red eyes, they do not scare the king, but they do scare many of his advisers.

Going to the eastern kingdoms gets my vote. It will take leadership diplomacy and probably some more fighting to do that. Epic comes to mind. It will be a massive final battle, brother against brother type of thing.

Not sure if I read the rest of the tread correctly, but are you worried readers won't "like" Silas because of what he's done in Ch1? It was pretty out there, but it's war and I'd rather that than someone "romanticising" things- cutting someone with a sword gets messy real quick. In any case, other than toning down Silas in Ch1 ie making him less bloodthirsty and more in control yet still effective at slaying rebels, you can always make readers hate the rebels more ie have them slaughter a few babies. You'd be amazed how quick readers will cheer Silas on next time he meets some rebels ...

Or, like usual, I might just have no idea what we're talking about here!

Not knowing the rebel's cause, what we think of Silas can still go both ways. If the rebels are bloodthirsty greedy pigs, we root for Silas. If not, then we might have a little problem with Silas, so if the rebels have a just cause, I'd strongly suggest that Silas realises that, feel bad about killing them by the hundreds and see to justice being done despite the personal cost to him as a son/brother. Basically, I'm still open-minded and it's up to Shearluck to make me go either way.

This is one of the reasons I plaster my thoughts all over my reviews - to let writers know whether they've succeeded to convey their intent to readers (or, at least this reader).

The rebels caused is mix, end to slavery, new lands given, an end to the status quo

It is decided, Silas will travel east, where he must defeat the Khans in a strawberry rhubarb pie eating competition.  I must say, most unconventional but I think with his berserker abilities Silas should be up to par.