We wrap up our coverage of the lead characters of TTWC1 with a look back on Corona the White Dragon.

I like writing nonhuman characters because it affords me the opportunity to think outside the box. I don’t take it too far because there needs to be some measure of relatability for the audience. Corona is not so recent an addition as Xenomachos, but she wasn’t in the early drafts of the story either. I honestly think her relationship with Ionathas blossomed as I wrote her.

There is no small irony in playing with the knight and lady dynamic when the lady in question happens to also be a Dragon. Elves and Dragons both have quite a bit of aloofness to them as a general rule, but Dragons also carry a great power and menace even when they masquerade as humans. Part of developing Coronas character was taking this strong, intimidating presence and softening it. It’s not like she becomes jelly or anything, but there’s a nice juxtaposition of these moments of vulnerability that I really like.

If you thought that her pursuing her revenge on Xorgoth was a poor decision on her part, I think you’ll find her bleeding and alone in a cave agreeing with you. Unfortunately, she never really thought out her rebellion and paid for it. The White Dragons were too beaten down after centuries of subjugation and too few in number to make a difference even if she could rally the entire race to her cause. It would’ve been better for her if she stuck with Ionathas (better for Ionathas too), but it’s just one more thread in the grand tapestry of tragedy that is the Trident War.

Well, I guess that’ll do it for now. I may consider doing a few of these for significant members of the supporting cast or perhaps cover characters from previous works (though a few of them have future appearances, so I may refrain and I may simply opt to do multi-parters). I’d like to get back to doing weekly commentary posts, so I’ll weigh my options. Stay tuned.

I wrapped up Urgill’s prologue and did some work on her Chapter 1 in TTWC3. She’s certainly shaping up to be quite a different character than how I originally wrote her. I may go into it deeper when her turn at a character spotlight rolls around, but before she was just a monster hopelessly infatuated with Rowland. Now there’s a lot more going on. My work on Orguz in TTWC2 deserves a good share of the credit. He too got fleshed out much better in this version and a lot of that development extended to Urgill. I’m thinking about spending an extra week continuing my work here on TTWC3 before switching over to Tico4. We’ll see how things go. I’m so close to wrapping things up there that I should really just go ahead and make the final push. Stay tuned.

I wrapped up Mab and Akasame’s Chapter 1 and got most of the way through Urgill’s prologue in TTWC3. I believe I’ve mentioned this before, but originally the entire Trident War Chronicles was bundled together in a single massive volume (though it did have the individual “books” that were later made into volumes). I wrote the prologue and Chapter 1 for each character before going back to fill things in, so that’s why I have such a significant lead on TTWC3, though I’m rewriting most of it, so it mostly amounts to a starting point for my reworking. I’d like to get through everything I’ve previously written before switching over to another project. We’ll see how that goes. Stay tuned.

Although I said I was going to go back to TTWC2, it seems that I’ve committed myself to going through everything I’ve written on TTWC3 instead. I got Mab and Akasame’s prologues reworked and started in on rewriting Simona’s Chapter 3 and Mab’s Chapter 1. For the most part, I’m finding that scrapping my previous work and starting over is the better option. This is probably some of my most drastic reworking of the Trident War series yet, but I think the finished product will be better for it. Part of me is considering shifting from the current biweekly schedule to a weekly schedule, running two stories a week, closer to what I originally intended for the site. We’ll see, though. I’d burn through my buffer rather quickly that way and if work picks up, I won’t have the same time to devote to writing. Stay tuned.

On a whim, I decided to do a little writing on CeleKing3. I then went through reading over/editing/reworking/completing the prologue, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of both Rowland and Simona in TTWC3. I may continue to do the same for the chapters of TTWC3 I already have written before getting back to TTWC2 or I may mix a bit of the two. We’ll see.

I finished my read-through of TTWC1 and rounded out the appendices. When I do a read-through, I make a point to read aloud. While the written word isn’t always meant to be read aloud, I find that if you have difficulty saying it, it probably needs reworking. I like to think that this helps keep my prose flowing smoothly. Doing a read-through of an entire novel in two sittings is a little taxing on the throat, though. I’m lucky I didn’t lose my voice. I haven’t had to talk for my bread and butter in a while, so I’m a bit out of practice. Anyway, once the update is out the door, I can turn my attention to TTWC2 and make some progress there. Stay tuned.

The read-through of TTWC1 took up all the time that might otherwise be devoted to moving forward with my writing. There were a number of minor edits and a little more work on the appendices for whatever that’s worth. Ideally, I’ll have everything done and ready for the update by Wednesday. Stay tuned.

I did a little work on Medusa’s Chapter 5 of TTWC2 and also some work in the peripheral materials, including further adjustments to the timelines and some tweaks to troop strengths. I think I’ll be switching over to Tico4 after this. Stay tuned.

I didn’t make any progress in the story itself, but I did some reshuffling of the timeline, which resulted in a lot of work rearranging the chapter structure of TTWC3 and adjusting the peripheral materials. It also nullified my prior work on Medusa’s Chapter 5 of TTWC2, but I’d only written a paragraph, so no great loss. I’ll probably recover lost ground and then switch over after that. Stay tuned.

While not quite meeting quota, I did do a little writing on Medusa’s Chapters 4 and 5 of TTWC2. I may keep at it another day or two before switching over. We’ll see. Stay tuned.