Originally this chapter and the next were going to be one chapter, all told from Gral’s point of view. But as I wrote it I found I had too much material for just one post, so I split it up. I’m quite glad I did, as it allowed me to focus more on what I wanted to get at with Gral — and let me write something from the point of view of Paradox.

Many of the mysteries of the dungeon are still mysteries to me, which I write knowing (well, hoping) that they’ll unveil themselves in due time. But some of them I’ve worked out, in whole or in part. I know who Paradox is, or what he is, and I expect by this point some of you reading the story have guessed it as well. I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t (it actually won’t be too terribly long before it becomes clear), except to say I really wanted to write something from inside his head-space.

The funny thing is that I eventually found that the division of chapters made sense structurally. Or it seems so to me, at this point. We’re coming up on the end of Part Two; originally I thought that’d come quickly after the two groups of characters I’d been following got back together. In fact, as I wrote it out, I found the conclusion was taking longer than I’d expected. The division of the matter of this chapter and the next into two posts is an example. And then I realised that this only made sense, as the whole process of exploration had expanded to rather more than I’d originally had in mind.

This to me is the strength of the story; I can play about with it, and let it grow in ways I didn’t expect. I’d say there’s a risk of slowing the story down, but in fact I don’t much mind that. I don’t think shorter is necessarily better. I’ve said it before, but I prefer long books, which take their time and give you a full, rich experience; detailed characters and a varied setting, as well as a complex plot. I don’t know if I’ll end up achieving that, but it seems like something worth shooting for.