"shouldn't be my focus" may miss the point.  Yes, you need to find the end.  But you have a problem you're solving here, too.  You're developing skill and each obstacle is a skill to develop.

Erndog's review of your latest chapter.


Something to note: K's stories are about individuals in a milieu.  Yours are about multiple people whose actions affect each other.  The extreme prune that works for him may be disaster for you.  It certainly would be disaster for me because my story is as much about the milieu as the characters.

When GRRM kills off a character, it's not to clear the field or to piss off readers.  It's to cut off an avenue of hope.  And people who might, with a nudge, have become heroes revert to their worst: Tyrion Lannister (if I remember the name aright) and the dragon woman.

I'm talking about the action in a particular scene, as discussed in a particular review.

As to stripping characters away, I suggest you compare Star Trek TOS with just one plot per episode with TNG, which often had two, or B5, which usually had three and sometimes four.  Amy doesn't have too many characters.  She needs to linearize some places in her action.

You could pretty much solve the classic mystery =I the Jury= by watching who was left alive.  Spillane got away with it, but it gets overworked.  It also undercuts the Happy Ever After, and reduces the impact of the deaths.  When Hedwig was killed, we knew where =Deathly Hallows= was going.  We felt it, far more than we would have felt a random death at Antietam or Shiloh.

Per Ern's review: Don't simplify, =clarify=.  You've got a rich setting.  Bring it to us!

Further thought on the Problem with Elves: There could be real truth to what Lucas says about Kha living out of his culture.  His link to Sil could be based not only on his moral choices, but also on his mixed heritage.  Mages among Elfkind might bear special stigma, or special status (which would make Lucas an outcast among his kind, even as he cants about Kha's heritage rejection).  (And doesn't he do this with Anver around?  So Anver has to realize that Kha is half-elf.)

Pity we don't meet one or two others.  (Are they susceptible to Horrors?)  (Do they have links to Behira or Saundon or anyone else?)

Not sure about Kha.  Anyway, you could make him a quarter-elf.  The 'Problems with Elves' bit could intensify Lucas's taunting.

Or have one of those nobles mention the Empress in the third person ... and Madame say something that makes it clear that The Empress is indeed an absent third person.

I didn't have a problem ... but you could give them proper names.  Or have hadae mention the Empress in the third person.

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Hey, I was going to do this in book nine or ten, but I'll do it now instead.  Nothing says I can't do it again ... and you asked for this one.

What about the descending aorta and the inferior vena cava?  Aren't they in the general vicinity of the kidneys?

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Well, I think I =may= have a timeline for Day 2 Maurand that has everything in the right order.  I have to move a couple things to Day 3 and one back to Day 1, and decide just how the timeline maps onto the linear time of day.

Meanwhile, I have an appointment tomorrow, and at least one delivery to expect, and something I want to get built before the appointment, if I can.

Save the 3-5 day death for the bad guy--or for someone the bad guy loves, if there is such a person.

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I'm still working on sequencing all the little events of Maurand Day 2.

Amy, I might give you a gross little scene of his treatment, just for you.  smile

For the femoral artery, think leg near the groin.  A wound that penetrated just right can open it in two directions.  Amy can give you a more detailed picture (but don't forget WikiP).

The ideal weapon might be the gladiius with its two razor-sharp edges.

Oh, what about a lower cut that opens a femoral artery near the abdomen?

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Almost like 'said'. smile

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I'm going out of my gourd right now.  I've replaced my cellphone but--the existing stock of slide phones are incompatible with all the apps that were loaded on my old slidephone, including yahoo mail, chrome, and the Google play store app.

So either I have a phone I can type on, that can't run my apps, or I have a phone that the apps will deign to run on, but that I can't type on.

I feel like throwing wooden shoes through the touchscreen factories ... .   If I'd bought the new phones in a certain narrow time window, they would have gotten the update to the Android OS.

And I still can't schlepp my computer around with the PbSO4 battery pack.  I've just shelled out money for three spare flaptop batteries.  If I can keep them charged, I'll be able to use it most days (while I rehab my legs).  (The problem is tying up another hand with that 28+lb battery pack.)

Norm, when you get your list of curses, send it my way.   I need it.  (My good guys never curse.  My bad guys have yet to do so, but their character will be worse than any words they could utter.) Sorry, this is this best U-tube I could find.

Nobody there cares about kittens.  A full-grown mouser is another matter.

It seems that GoodReads has the same idea ... but this is a Kindle ebook giveaway handled through Amazon, and it can be done with pre-publication works.

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The original production with Cariou and Lansbury was better by far.  The audio is up on youtube.  (The audio quality is better, too.)

Dragon Balls!  Rat spit!

You can also take mythic figures from your history: Bloody Caesar!  Arthur's Eyes!  That may help you introduce myth that is important to your story.

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Is that squire on the fire?

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Going to try to get the next chapter laid out.  All the little things I've listed have to fall into place, and so I need to get them in order.  This may be a sticky-notes problem.

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Janet (AJ) Reid wrote:

Don't worry about us! Look after yourself first. We'll be here waiting once you're sorted. Hope it's soon though!

So do I.  So do I.

Invent failed or corrupted magic, and use that for your curses?