hello, thank you so much!

so in terms of longfics, usually i have a vague idea of how i want it to end but very little idea of how i get there lol. which is the same as writing novel-length original fiction. only there there's a lot more constraint on length — depending on genre, you really want to hit the sweet spot of 80-90k, though something like savage gift as high fantasy would be permitted to be much longer — and, accordingly, pacing and structure. this is the beauty of fanfiction. i really can just let the ideas carry me along. three act structure? climax? never heard of them.

that being said, those kind of structural elements do kind of... tend to happen anyway, often without me really realising it. i cannot overstate how subconscious my process is. i dump loose ideas in scrappy notes at the bottom of the doc and throw a party when the dots connect. i can tell we're reaching the end when more and more of those dots are connecting. which really means when i begin a project like this i have very little idea how long it will wind up being.

now we've hit the 120k mark on savage gift, however, with a lot of the big story beats set up, i'm finally sitting down and planning out the rest. this is usually how i convince myself to finish something so long — i can improvise and play around in the sandbox for the first half/two thirds and then it's time to give myself a roadmap/knuckle down and tie all that experimentation together. without which roadmap i would get totally lost haha

with regards to savage gift, then, having done said roadmap for myself, i'm imagining around another 7ish chapters, so around 70k words. giving a total of nearly 200k. good lord this fic is long. and who knows what might come up between here and there — whole new plotpoints could spring up like weeds. as italian tennis player jannik sinner likes to say, let's see what's coming.

'The hedge knight lives, so I hear. Licking his wounds and pacing up and down outside the castle wall all hours. Your latest loyal dog.'

// Prince Baelor survives the blow at Ashford Meadow, but not without consequences. The seasons begin to turn.

Chapter 13: SPRING 210 A.C. (III)

"He is– good?" Maekar said, almost tentative. "He is– you believe him to be good?" "He will not hurt me." "You're certain?" "I rather fear I shall hurt him."