Author's Note:
Hello, everyone! I realize it's been a while since my last chapter of Tempus Vita, and I apologize if this isn't the update many of you would have hoped to see, but I'm going to be as honest as I can.
I have struggled with the next chapter at least a dozen times over the past four months, trying to lead into a proper way to continue the story. The issue is this: I read the old chapters and I'm disappointed in how quickly the pacing was done. Think about it this way: it was less than two weeks before Severus and Lily got together following his rebirth. There was struggle, but I feel it wasn't realistically drawn out. Everything happened too fast, and unless I throw in a breakup, there isn't a lot that's going to keep the reader invested in their relationship. If anything, Severus and Lily really shouldn't have gotten back to best friend terms until midsummer at the least, and certainly romance should have taken a lot longer than that to develop.
At the same time, Sev's emotional instability and him learning about the Mark, it led to its payoff far too quickly for me looking back. There's other things too, such as the fact that his inner spy should not have so quickly melted down and rebelled against the other Slytherins. Escalation should have probably happened much later.
I'm met with a bit of an issue right now; I BADLY want to go back and start this story over, giving it the pacing and detail for things to be more realistic. Obviously, Harry Potter is a fantasy fiction universe, but I feel that the characters at least should have been explored in greater detail. Severus essentially got a massive payoff of everyone's trust within a week, and looking at my story's theme of rebirth as a whole, it's almost laughable to think that people's perceptions could be altered so quickly.
The same holds true with him helping Eileen out of her suicidal mindset. That is something that needed to be drawn out over at least a summer, if not the Christmas Holidays as well.
I'm still debating on whether to pull the trigger and begin writing the reboot or not. Obviously some people may just be wanting the story to move forward instead of backward, but I really left myself no great character developments. The battle lines were drawn, Severus and Lily are already together, and he's aware of how his magical core works now.
The idea is to tell the same story, but with greater detail and much more realistic pacing. The end goal is the same. It IS a Severus and Lily fanfiction, after all. But as a person who loves to write and is always striving to improve, I can't help but look back on the first fifteen or so chapters and shake my head at how hasty I was in handling everything.
What do YOU think? Am I just being silly and should just continue, or are there much greater improvements I could make? Please, let me know your thoughts in the reviews!