News! (Rewrite) (2/4/2020)

I have emerged from my creative fallout bunker into a post-apocalyptic world, where my novel is awful and it is in dire need of a rewrite. That's a little hyperbolic, but not VERY. I'll explain.

The Demon Emperor (Zenos) and his motivations have been in flux for some time; understanding them, like grabbing a squirming eel, was pretty difficult until I finished Volume 2. You could also say that I didn't really understand who Zenos was and what he was feeling until I was nearly finished with Volume 2.5. I began to worry that the demon emperor I was imagining and was comfortable with didn't actually exist on paper. A review was necessary, and the results are in: I'm not happy with it.

Zenos' character development starts on the wrong foot, and all of my rationale for his growth is skewed because of it. He's the demon emperor! A near four-century old warlord and master magician, and yet he acts... like a boy. That's fine, because he's like a boy in some respects, but that's a hard thing to understand without a lot of context. It's fine if, later, he embraces more of his child-like wonder for things that had been repressed by his having to serve as a villain. What's not fine is that he immediately folds into that emotional vulnerability when he should--very necessarily--actually been walled off.

I have all the elements there already. I have all the scenes I need, I'm sure of that. What I need to do is I need to refactor all of the demon emperor's dialogue and use some of his earlier scenes to show his gradual relaxation from stiff, depressed Demon Emperor to a more heart-felt and compassionate Zenos. It's a transformation that begins with his revival and ends with the dungeon raid, but it should also be apparent--maybe as early as his first memory--that he always loved the idea of heroes and aspired to be one.

The way his dreams were crushed, how he warmed up to the possibility that he could be good again, and how he was later... crushed once more is a very important part of his arc. I need to do better; I absolutely can do better.

This rewrite will probably take me 2-3 weeks, and I know that sucks. I want to get on with 2.5, and Volume 3. I want to move on with this story. I just can't do it if the quality isn't up to my standard. Thank you for your understanding.

— Zenowriter