Three Square Meals Ch. 136 – Part 2 (Patreon)

Hey everyone,

First of all, apologies for my lengthy absence. 

Over the past few months, I've had a number of unfortunate situations to deal with in my personal life, as well as coping with the pressures of lockdown. I love spending time with my family, but trying to gear myself up for writing adult science fiction when I'm dealing with constant "mundane" interruptions has been difficult to say the least.

Writing this part of the story has also been tricky for a number of reasons. We've reached a pivotal point in TSM and I always feel a huge amount of pressure to make those scenes suitably epic. The guide has been a thorn in John's side ever since I introduced him five years ago, so I wanted to give him the kind of send-off he deserved. 

I think that chapter 136 part 1 was probably the most complex section of the story I've written to date. Every combat scene with the guide hailed back to previous chapters, referencing John meeting and recruiting each of the girls. I also had to craft a convincing set of arguments for the guide, each one undermining John's efforts and playing on his insecurities, while making sure that there was also a relevant link to the girl in question. I'm pleased with the final result, but it took a huge amount of effort to put together. 

As you'll see when you read this update, the second half of the chapter deals with some... traumatic incidents... which are always gruelling to write. I try to immerse myself in the characters when I write from their perspective, which can make writing the darker parts of the story tough going. If I'm excited about writing scenes, then the words flow easily, but if they're complex or dealing with sensitive subjects, then it can be a real grind to get through.

All this has snowballed into a nasty case of writer's block, where I'd really struggle to get even 500 words written in a day. I decided that rather than just keep banging my head against a brick wall, I'd have a complete break from TSM for a few weeks, just to give me a chance to recharge my batteries.

It seems to have worked! :-)

Anyway, here are the next ~17k words in the story. I hope you enjoy it.

Tefler

Addendum:

I've decided to charge separately for each half of this chapter, to reflect the amount of work involved in creating both sections. 

I'll revert to normal charging next month and do my best to complete two chapters for November.