So, I just wanted to let you all know how things currently stand.
I’m about 50% through the next chapter, “The Empty Dragon – Act 2” (of 3), but it’s turning out to be one of the most difficult to write to my satisfaction, as it deals with some seriously dark subject matter (take a look at act 1 to see just a few hints of it), which is why I haven’t finished it just yet.
I’ve also done about 20% of the work on the following chapter “Bad People”. That one… won’t be a big problem to finish, once I get to it. About a third of it is mostly just the Dark fighting the Gefährten.
Outlines for “Good People” and “The Man Who Knocked Out Lady Light” are complete, and the latter already has several scenes done in very rough first drafts.
Hopefully, Act 2 will be finished this weekend.
Sincerely,
Tieshaunn Tanner
Tieshaunn 
Thank you for keeping us posted on the progress of the next updates, for some reason I was expecting the Empty dragon to be a two parter but eh, three is fine by me.
Also can I say that I am very eager to see Bad people ?
Three-Act Structure is kind of a classic which I, as a student of Literature, appreciate a lot.
Hint hint.
But I thought that the Three-Act Structure was just a bastard abridgement of the proper Five-Act Structure.
And yes, I’m trolling because I have no clue about these conventions. I was a student of Chemistry and Biology, after all.
One can like more than one thing 😉
The first part was absolutely massive, I’ve got troubles remembering everything but I get the gist of it and it gives me a lot of motivation for part 2 and 3.
Yeah. I imagine that part of the problem is that the Empty Dragon is something of a genre-shift. I mean, it felt like it was heading toward “grimdark distopia” which is not exactly the general tone of the rest of the story.
Emotionally, it might be the straight-up opposite of the Monkey arc.
IMO the monkey part was deeply emotional, because paradoxically, I may be 21 but it linked me to a part of myself deeply ingrained in me, my paternal instinct. And the few parts I remember about the empty Dragon activates this instinct in me and I must say it’s pretty masterful of you Ties.
@NuitBlanche
They might tug at the same heartstrings, but I don’t think they’ll go in the same direction. I can easily see the paternal aspect to the Monkey arc. That helps give the whole thing its positive, uplifting theme.
The Empty Dragon… Did not give me that vibe. That paternal aspect is there, but it makes the bleak portions darker. I got the feel that the arc was going to be a downward spiral of despair, betrayal, and rage.
That’s what I meant about the arcs being emotional opposites.
I totally see your point, the Monkey is about hope and redemption, the Empty dragon seems to be about darkness and betrayal !
Thank you for the update. Really hope that one of the upcoming Interludes will show us the UHs reaction to the junior team’s report. There should have been plenty of time to talk before DiL showed up.
Knowing that the story would be over if Basil dies, he is guaranteed to survive this. The thing I wonder is how. There is one potentiality that would be him being revived from death by Ember, but I find that unlikely. I wonder if he will immediately try to escape, or if he intends on resisting Bree and maybe trying to save some people.
We know that Book 2 will be from another POV and we are coming close to the end of Book 1.
You think Tieshaunn is trying to pull a Kamina? Except this would be so much worse. Nah, Basil is far too important at this point. I can only see the story being a shadow of itself without him.
Maybe he wont be basil anymore. If he recovers his memories then i dont know if he’ll be the same person.
Just a random thought, could DiL be defeated if all of the Dark Five and Savage Six teamed up?
no
Even with all of the Shining Guardians added on top of that? Along with Sovereign and Madeleine?
No.
Madeleine could theoretically cultivate a power to exploit DiL’s weak point, if she knew of it, but it’d take a while to grow it to that point. Certainly not something she could do any time soon.
That flat, “no” was more or less what I expected at first, thanks to DIL still being alive after decades of basically everyone on Earth wanting her dead.
Then I started to doubt myself. Hemming might be bright enough to figure out her weakness. And he doesn’t seem like the type that would share that information.
Even if the Dark and LL do whatever it is they did to stop the Living Trinity?
They can’t use that against DiL.