For those of you who haven't had the chance to finish "In Defence of the Realm", feel free to scroll down the page and read the final posts.
Once you have read the final chapter, this is a chance to comment on what you liked, what you hated, whether you would like to see more - and most importantly if you have urgent questions for me to answer.
Throughout the course of writing the series I added and removed parts of the back-stories of characters, developed a geography of the world and cut out some parts to fit the chapters on the page each week, so there are probably points that readers may want me to clear up.
I will try my best to answer all the questions (within reason) and incorporate criticism into my next series. I hope that everyone has enjoyed "In Defence of the Realm" as much as I enjoyed making it.
I don't know if you want to read the criticisms or encouragement first. Maybe read one sentence of each so you don't get too depressed, or read the criticisms first so you finish on the positives :P Keep in mind that I liked it a lot, and will certainly read the continuation of this.
ReplyDeleteI liked the story development, and the introduction of Adrian was good. The boots were pretty cool, as was most of the clockwork technology. Also I liked the character of Dastardly, a good protagonist. Not too cliche either. The way that it was set out was fairly good, but I think larger (and if it has to be, less regular) releases would be better.
I liked the ending, but it took me a while to understand what this "mother" thing was, maybe that was because the pace was too fast (if you're trying to fit each story into a certain length this might be the reason). I didn't really understand what exactly they were trying to stop for a while.
I haven't read any Terry Pratchett (Sorry :P) but I imagine that some of the style was taken from his? I thought it was a bit jarring to refer to father time as "ceo" or "taxes" as the assistant, but the whole thing wasn't really serious fantasy (I would consider lord of the rings "serious"), which is fine, but it's not what I read usually (I am very well aware that this is the sort of thing that you like, so it's probably just a personal thing)
Overall, very good! Funny in parts, clever and suspenseful, good adventure. Tips for next time: Slow it down, make longer releases, explain carefully.
Good job though! Looking forward to whatever comes next.
Now, questions.
What form will Dastardly's next adventure take?
It seemed strange that the Regent wanted to kill Dastardly just because he might be a nuisance in the future, and I'm willing to bet that he made Dastardly a nuisance by killing him. Why did the Regent kill Dastardly so readily? Did he have reason to believe that Dastardly might turn against him in the future, or is he just an evil guy? He may have won dastardly over if he, well, hadn't killed him.
I have to say that I really appreciate you pointing out things that needed more explanation - it's true that most of the fast pace and lack of set-up was generally in order to fit each chapter into roughly 1000 words. Even in that case I broke my own rules towards the end, so longer releases is something I will focus on next time.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you enjoyed the ending and next time I will try to make the point of the story clearer (the "mother" element was one of the hardest to convey while still keeping the pace of the story).
As for your questions, I was hesitant to talk about the possible follow-up until I had finished the story so that the ending wouldn't be spoiled.
Dastardly will certainly return. His next adventure is in the "form" of another series, though "form" might mean something else entirely given his predicament at the end.
I won't say too much, but a part of the story I cut out of IDotR involved the identity of the character named Helen. Clearly she was part of Dastardly's motivation but she wasn't present for reasons involving the "little arrangement" mentioned by the Land-Regent at the beginning.
As for the Land-Regent's actions, I would like to say that he killed Dastardly simply because I liked the idea of a twist ending that revolved around the title of the series. The more responsible answer is that behind-the-scenes events (including, among other things, the Regent being just an evil guy) pushed him to do it. There will be a more in depth explanation in the next series, relating to a dark and annoying secret that lurks in the gigantic library of the city.
I hope that all wasn't too vague, but I've got to have some surprises up my sleeve before the so-far unnamed sequel to "In Defence of the Realm" :)