Chapter Two of Worlds Apart has been posted! I actually had it done for a few days now (since before I finished Chapter One of Consequences) but I wanted to remain in contact with the person who commissions it. It is entirely possible that the chapter will change depending on their feedback, so if you look again and see some changes, you’re not going crazy.

It’s kind of challenging writing this story with my other stories. I think my bread-and-butter is immature miscommunication (take from that what you will). Writing characters that feel like they belong in a high fantasy and writing young people that feel deep for having “life chats” that amount to universal human problems that they think are unique to them feels like a night-and-day scenario. Sometimes I’m in more of a mood to write one than the other.

To be honest, I don’t quite feel like I “get” high fantasy dialogue like I get my more traditional dialogue. Writing, say, Nicole’s dialogue is a treat. Once I start, the words just flow and they don’t stop. I feel like I’m there, and I feel like I can hear every word and feel every action coming. Neil Gaiman describes this feeling well, arguing,

Writing a novel is like driving through the fog with one headlight out. You can’t see very far ahead of, but every so often, the mists will clear.

Neil Gaiman, advertising his MasterClass on writing

I like this description. I definitely feel mists clearing when I write a scene I’m into. So far, writing high fantasy still feel very mist-y. I don’t feel like I’m in Emma’s head, and I also have the disadvantage of not coming up with this story myself. I’m not familiar either with high fantasy nor Isekai stories (stories where the protagonist is abruptly sent to another world) and, were I on my own, I likely wouldn’t write any of either.

That’s actually a huge reason why I like commission stories. It pushes me outside of my comfort zone to write stories I otherwise wouldn’t touch, and also forces me to care about ideas I didn’t come up with as much as I would care about my own. By the end of writing The Mystery of Lakeview Mall, I cared about the concept and its characters a lot. It’s actually my favorite story I’ve written in the last two years, Mutual Benefits included.

I appreciate being pushed out of my comfort zone, and as comments on other sites have told me, I’m still not too familiar with the genre and tropes, but that will come in time. Thanks for being patient while I work on my writing style in real time, and by all means, you’re not being snobby or condescending by helping me see where I’m going wrong or where I’d better put my energy when it comes to these stories. I hope you enjoy chapter two. I’ll talk to you all next week.