Suddenly A Succubus Ch. 23 - Reflection

The whole opening scene of this chapter is a great example of the quieter, more slice-of-life style content that comes naturally when I'm trying to flesh out my chapters. My initial outline didn't have this section, didn't have the sex scene with Nick, didn't have Amara giving Chloé a half-truth about her and Nick. I'm extremely happy with this whole section, I think it gives us a great look into Amara's thought process now that she's tentatively maybe working things out with Vee.

Plus, I mean, I've been building up to Amara finally letting Nick fuck her ass for almost an entire book, I had to pull that trigger eventually. I'm always excited to introduce new kinks into Amara's life, especially when I get to portray them in a healthy and consensual way.

One goal I have with my writing is that I want the sex to feel very queer, with lots of open communication and consent. Anal is one of those things that can go very wrong if you jump in before you're ready, and that's why I spent so much time building up to this. We started with Tessa using a small toy, then continued hinting that Amara's been practicing on her own, and she even had Nick use a toy on her while they were fucking a few chapters ago. Real life isn't porn, you shouldn't just jump straight to anal once you decide you want it, it should be a whole process. And use lots of lube! I'm serious!

Clearly I need to moonlight as someone that writes sex advice columns.

Anyways, this next scene was really special. When Vee first came back, there was all this added pressure of what her first scene with Amara might look like. Then Amara tries to ask for help, and Tessa ends up needing to have the conversation in her stead. Here, however tense it might be, there's an understanding between the two of them. Sure, they're not talking about what's really important, they have a lot of beef they're ignoring, but it's something.

The one thing I tried to make obvious is how they're both approaching this situation where they have to work together. Vee is still snapping at Amara, who's doing her best to stay apologetic and careful. And, of course, Tessa is an ass who won't stop verbally attacking Amara. These three have a great dynamic that's always really exciting to write, and I'm glad they get to spend so much time together in the end of this book.

Once they're upstairs, they learn that something is amiss! Someone else is in the Dean's office! This brief little conversation, and the following scuffle, was actually something I added to the outline very late in the process. My original outline never gave Mr. Wellington a chance to directly confront Amara, and I didn't like how that felt. While their confrontation in this chapter is brief, I think it goes a long way in establishing who Sebastian Wellington is. He's ruthless, obviously, and doesn't hesitate to attack Amara and her friends. It doesn't matter where they are, or that they're students, they're in his way and he can't have that.

The actual fight took me a couple tries to get right. Cards on the table, I don't think I'm the best at writing combat. I do think I'm improving, now that it's happening a bit more frequently, but it's definitely something that doesn't come as naturally to me. Certainly not like writing cute romantic banter, I could do that for days.

My first draft of this fight was a little hectic, in the bad way, but thankfully I have a wonderful team of Beta Readers that helped point out what needed to be fixed, and the fight is infinitely better because of their advice.

The fight certainly could have gone better. Sebastian did a great job of using their abilities against each other, which hopefully establishes him as a proper threat. More importantly, it stresses how out of sync our characters are. They're kinda just throwing themselves at problems and hoping they can figure out what's happening, but this cult is probably going to need a more thoughtful approach.

Amara almost burned Vee again, who's holy magic clearly doesn't agree with Amara, even when it's not directed at her. Although, Vee has healing magic, that's pretty cool, right? Still, even with the powers of Heaven behind her, all the magic in the world can't fix interpersonal drama.

All in all, I'm very proud of this chapter. Things are slowly coming together for the big finale, and I can't wait to show you all what I've got planned.

Nyx <3