Blood & Chlorophyll Ch. 04 - Reflection

I'm really happy to be past some of the slower, introductory chapters now. The first two chapters were a blast to write, don't get me wrong, but it was a lot of set-up with very little plot. I'm also incredibly excited to be writing what is, essentially, a more straight forward story. I've been very upfront about my intentions with the book, mostly that it focuses on a romance, and it's been fun dabbling with this kind of writing.

Suddenly A Succubus is incredibly character focused, and there are a lot of conflicting world views constantly bouncing back and forth. Still, not every story needs to have that level of complexity. Blood & Chlorophyll was conceived as something that would fit a different niche, something a little fluffier and happier, and I feel pretty strongly that I'm hitting that vibe.

There's still conflict, obviously, and I hope that my characters feel as vibrant as ever, but the mechanics of the story are quite different.

It's strangely comforting to be able to write about two lost souls, both alone in their own way, discovering a kindred spirit that can easily understand them. Almost the entirety of this chapter is just Alicia and Katrina having a low-stakes conversation and getting to know each other. On a technical level, this does allow me to flesh out the world a bit, but it's also a great way to pursue some of my other writing goals.

One thing I've mentioned before, though in relation to SaS, is that I enjoy writing characters. One thing that bugs me in much of modern media is the focus on plot mechanics, when often I'd like to just see characters I like hanging out. (This is why so many of Amara's scenes focus on very mundane actions, like cooking or working out.) With this chapter of B&C, I wanted to show a simple slice of life conversation between these two girls that are struggling with circumstance. Personally, I'd be thrilled to write/read pages upon pages of these two just hanging out and doing random nonsense, but I do also have a story to tell. In the end, I'm really happy with the balance I try to strike in all my writing; make sure the plot is present, but don't let it distract from the fun characters that are acting in that plot.

My favorite bit of the chapter? Probably Alicia talking about how much she misses hamburgers. The tiny little details, focusing on the chipotle mayo she used to love, I think it goes a long way in humanizing a lot of the chaos of the Change.

I also got to finally explain what ORC stands for! Did I put in a serious amount of work to figure out a name that could be abbreviated to ORC? I mean, obviously, but c'mon, it's funny. This is the sillier of my two books, so I'm letting myself have some fun with it. That's also why I'm linking music and messing around at the end of the chapters, with the fourth-wall stuff. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of breaking the fourth wall, but personally it feels different because it's not happening in the story.

Once our two leads finally travel to the dungeon proper, I get to introduce my first real external conflict of the story. Fight scenes are always a tricky beast, but thankfully this one was pretty quick. They didn't do so hot, did they? I'm hoping that this fight serves as an adequate warning for how perilous dungeon delving can be, and that it's something people will recall as events continue to unfold.

I also get to end the chapter with the big reveal! This isn't some random dungeon, this is the main dungeon that's based in the heart of Chicago. I loved being able to use the Bean as a plot point here, and hopefully some of you find it just as silly as I do. I'll explain some more dungeon-specific history later in the book, but I think this was a great first taste.

Nyx <3