After this one, there’s only two planned chapters left in Arc 2. That may change a bit depending on how things go – an extra episode wouldn’t be unexpected, as there’s a fair bit to fit in still. That would bring Arc 2 in 3 episodes shy of Arc 1’s count, but that’s primarily because Arc 1 ended up being a touch longer than I’d intended.
Interlude #3 is pretty much the first time we’ve gone back to Wynton’s World with most of the information at hand. As I’ve talked about before, ADoF was never meant to be about the mystery – that was just build-up. As we move towards the end of Arc 2 things are going to start building towards crisis point, before we dive into Arc 3.
Funnily enough, I received an email from a reader back in July which included this line:
“Got various thoughts on what could be going on, including maybe the whole thing is a giant experiment by some overarching controlling race/organisation, however I’ll wait and find out.”
I remember JMS, writer of Babylon 5 back in the 90s, recounting how at a sci-fi convention a fan had wandered up to him, said “I’ve got a theory”, and then basically detailed the exact B5 story that nobody outside of JMS’ brain new about. He’d stood there dumbfounded, and the fan had wandered off, not realising that he’d hit the jackpot. Now I know how he felt.
Thing is, though, because mystery is a means to an end, rather than the end, even if you guess at what’s happening early in the story it doesn’t cause the whole thing to come tumbling down. I hope it doesn’t, at least. The character still legitimately are in the dark, and their discovery should be every bit as interesting as the reader’s, whichever happens to come first.
Thanks for reading this far. I’ve never had my fiction be read outside of my immediate social circles, so it’s been hugely rewarding.
Soundtrack: Fight Club by the Dust Brothers, because it has a unique mix of mundanity (Wynton’s life) with the subversive (Wynton’s ideals).
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