Author's Interlude

I'd like to thank all of you for your reviews, favor, reads, and subscriptions.
It means a lot to me that I'm able to interest readers, and keep them at the edge of their seats in ways that I once was back when I just read stories on here.

To make the writing process smoother, ensure improvement and motivation, I strongly urge each and every one of you to leave a review telling me how I'm doing; Let me know what's working, what you're liking about the story, what you don't like, typos, errors, or anything that you think is worth sharing with me.

As in added incentive,I'll personally respond to each and every one of your reviews in the interlude section after every four.

Writing this story is HUGE step forward for me creatively, and I'd like you to help me in the journey toward better things.
_

From MungoJerry on Chapter 1:
"mechanloids had taken a bulk of the physical labor required. But as we all know, "a mechanloid can't write a speech, but they're free anyway"..." - Not entirely clear here.. mechaniloids are taking most of the manual labor jobs? And what about that last statement? You'll want to reword some.

And watch your verb tense; you switched around a few times near the end.

Interesting! I'll keep reading. :)

From Quint the Historian on Chapter 1:
It's an okay start. You've got a good handle of the language, thought you should work on how you convey information to the reader, because it's a little clunky right now.

Also, try to make the next chapter twice as long. Just a suggestion.

Thanks, Mungo! Thanks, Jerry.

I think I've edited that bit of dialogue since then.
I wanted to avoid my descriptions of the characters and universe to be too "on the nose."
Characters like X, Alia, and Signas, for example are very professional in their demeanor and don't lend to the "bada-bing-bada-boom" bouncing off each other cleverness, so I think it's up to the narrator to get across what makes these characters and universe compelling underneath, to new readers, anyway.

But in my quest to be clever and unique in my descriptions, it sometimes comes across as a garbled mess. From now on, I'll try to follow my own variant on the KISS acronym: "Keep It Subtle Stupid."

On the length of the chapters… I feel as though every chapter has to be about something. When the events of the stories change subjects, I change chapters.
Also, I have this weird notion that when I get tired of writing, then the audience would likewise be bored if I go on for too much longer. I'll certainly think more on that, though.
Otherwise, my initial plan was to gradually increase chapter length and complexity as the story went on.

The length will vary from chapter to chapter. There shouldn't be any pattern. It all depends on how much I want to accomplish in the chapter and how soon I can do it.

From Quint the Historian on Chapter 2:
Over all, it's still good. It would have been better, if Ch1&2 were one chapter, since one directly leads into another, but this is fine. Also, bolding some of the words is a good thing, because it helps keeps the readers eyes moving.

But, if there is one lesson to learn in this chapter is no alternate the names. You don't want to be calling the characters by their names constantly, because it sorta distracts the reader. For example call X, the first reploid, the blue reploid, the famous Maverick Hunter, or the blue bomber. Axl can be, the wannabe Maverick Hunter, the youngest reploid, the reploid with the cross shaped scar. Alia can be the female navigator, the blonde reploid, the female reploid, the reploid at the controls.

Of course, this is for cases when the characters aren't addressing each other.

Yeah, I took note of that when you initially told me. It's a tad uncomfortable for me because I usually don't associate the characters with all those other titles. That, and I want the narration to generally be neutral, but I think I'll try to use objective descriptions that coincide with what's been established in the story. Build off reader's knowledge.

Also, I want the story to be a visually dynamic experience; I want the text to reflect the events of the story and the speaker's feelings about what they're saying.

From MungoJerry on Chapter 2:
Mm.. actually, it looks like you overuse the bold function. If you want to give a word or phrase emphasis, use italics instead, and save the bold for special occasions. ;)

You've got a lot of work to do on your grammar and sentence structure. Try reading your work out loud to yourself so you can see how it sounds and catch mistakes. The same goes for dialogue- read it out loud to test how natural it is. Read a LOT to get a feel for how grammar works, or have a friend/family member read through it to gauge how clear your work is.

And finally: if you're not sure how a word is used, be sure to look it up first. You only receiving something "posthumously" if you're dead. :)

Happy writing!

Keeping in mind what I said to Quint, I will try to use the bolding, italics, and underlining more sparingly. The dramatic effect is lost if I do it ALL the time.

But with chapter's 3 and 4 I've been experimenting with other narrative uses of the bold function. Tell me what you think.

And thank you for pointing out the incorrect word choice. How embarrassing. It reminded me of the word I was thinking of, but I just made an ass of myself. Ha.
I hope the correction clears up any confusion…

_

Thank you all for your kind words thus far.
I have BIG plans for next chapter. I'm really excited about the new plot threads and characters I'm going to introduce.

This may prove to be the longest chapter so far.

Stay tuned!

- Probatio Pennae