Quiet Quitting
What it's like to be a writer
Cut section at the start of the climax.
Within minutes, everyone knew what to do.
Or, at the very least, pretended.
Or . . . were, apparently, quiet quitting—picking up rocks when you were watching, then putting them back a few seconds later when you weren’t.
If it wasn’t for the Army of Light at their figurative doorstep, ready to turn them all into the equivalent of garden gnome statues, Dhane might have understood this third group.
The head of HR grumbled about the “bad bad bad” Cobalins and formed in a rush of smoke to participate in the fine art of eye-staring contests.
That sounded delightfully . . . terrible.
In the first version of the climax, Dhane gives a speech, and everyone splits off to work on their assigned tasks, preparing for the attack.
But this lacked tension and slowed the pacing.
I decided that a surprise attack, at night, would not wait. The Army of Light would seize their advantage and attack immediately.
The change fixed the problems in the scene, but required cutting a few chunks away to make it work.
This is what it’s like to be a writer. The story is a clump of clay, constantly shifting as the narrative advances. It can be sad to delete words you thought were good, but then you build a website and include them as bonus content. Win-win!