Blood & Chlorophyll Ch. 21 - Reflection

As I've said many times before, I struggle to write more mechanical conflicts. I understand many people enjoy them, but they've always been something I struggle with when writing. I want everything to be about my characters! The last two chapters of Blood & Chlorophyll have been a bit more mechanical, and it's been an interesting writing experience for me. Overall, I'm very happy with how those chapters turned out, and I'm thankful for the premise of the story for shoving me in a corner and making me write chapters like those. I really do think my writing has improved directly from wrestling with the question of "How do I keep the dungeon interesting without character drama?"

However, I'm also a big fat cheater. Roxy has always been my secret weapon, my trick for injecting character drama into the delving part of this adventure. One big reason the story is structured the way it is (All the delving in the last few chapters) is because it gives us a lot of time with the main cast. Then, when they start delving, I suddenly introduce a new character without warning.

Now, everything that happens in the Dungeon has an extra layer of complexity to it. Not only are they trying to fight monsters and solve puzzles, but they're also trying to figure out if they can trust Roxy or not.

The purpose of this chapter, then, is to stress that new dynamic. I needed to properly introduce Roxy, get them out of the Dungeon, and give her a chance to explain her backstory. Compared to the last two chapters, I wrote this one in record time, and it's easy to see why. It's a bunch of tense character drama! Plus, I had a lot of fun spelling out Roxy's history, detailing why things went south with Ashes To Ashes, stuff like that.

On a grand scale, I wrestled quite a bit with how much presence I wanted the Guilds to have. Personally, I think it's pretty interesting that the shadow of Ashes To Ashes hangs over the entire plot, even though we never actually see them. Katrina explained early on that they would happily burn down the Dungeon, and Tabitha has also given us plenty of reasons to dislike them. Continuing this trend, I always knew I wanted Roxy's history to be tumultuously tied to Ashes, as I feel it puts her in an interesting conflict with everyone else.

Ideally, the different reactions of our core cast highlight their differing opinions. I wanted Alicia to seem the most trusting of Roxy, and Tabitha the least, with Kat somewhere in between the two. In the end, however, it's impossible to deny that they'd be dead without Roxy, and they decide to let her join.

I had a lot of fun putting together the conditions for her joining, honestly. It gave Katrina a chance to use her Scan spell, and I think it's a fun bit of characterization to see how Roxy responds to everything.

In the end, this chapter did everything I wanted it to. I'm excited to get back into the dungeon with this added wrinkle, and hopefully you are to!

Guess this ended up being a pretty short Reflection, huh?

Nyx <3