FUCK ICE

So, it's definitely not done lol. And I have it mostly planned out. As in, I always have at least the next 5 chapters precisely planned, and then the rest of the story, I know all the major beats. I know where all the characters will be, I know who lives and who dies, I know how the main "villains" are defeated, etc...

I will put a caveat to this though, as I have gotten several comments on it that I'm not exactly a fan of. If you are invested in AVWH solely for the romance of Jaime and Myra, then I would suggest ending the story at Chapter 48. Everything wraps up nicely and you can say the romance is concluded.

AVWH has grown since I started it years ago. This was before Game of Thrones became bad. This was before the disappointment. This was when I had a reasonable expectation for the release of Winds of Winter. My story has changed many elements of canon, and I have changed more on top of that because I hate the direction the show took. So, in order to tell the story well and merge all these ideas, Jaime and Myra are not as prevalent. I have more characters coming in. I'm piecing together more things.

Early in the story, it was easy to focus on solely them. The background story was, for the most part, still following canon. I don't need to explain anything to the audience because they already know it. But now, I no longer have that safety net. I can't just fall back on canon. I'm past canon and I have to create a believable world and a believable ending for my take on Game of Thrones, and I can't do that in a vacuum.

Chapter Eight - The Great and the Small

“You were thinking of him, weren’t you?”

Maeve sighed, wondering if she was always so obvious. “What makes you believe that?”

“Because he’s the only one you can’t talk about,” Enith replied, her voice distant, but not unkind. It was understanding that she’d brought with her, not confrontation. “You can talk with the others about missing the library and your books and even that little slope, but once you mention a man, everything changes. People stop being sympathetic. Now they’re just curious, and suddenly all your pain becomes a game to them.”