9, the devil you thought you knew
9. Were there any alternate versions of this fic?
Usually there weren't alternate versions as much as I discovered new places I wanted to go/new developments within the journey. I've known what the ending couple of chapters will be for about a year now (likely chapters 40-42) but the route there keeps expanding
I hadn’t known that I'd want Viravos to actually get married but they are and it'll matter for more than just shipper reasons, for instance
When I first started writing rather soon after S4 I hadn't been a Sorvus shipper so that was a pleasant surprise, most stuff is like that where I grow into the idea that fits alongside the trajectory I've always had. Including some Ezran POV snd Rayla POV chapters and the Pentarchy were also things I really loved writing but hadn't known I would do at the start and I'm glad I have
I also have been on the fence about how much I wanted human mages to progress with learning magic, but I think it's clear now that I'm angling for them to be able to connect to an arcanum without using dark magic first, and I've spent a lot of time in fic establishing that through Aaravos, Callum, and Viren being teachers to my Eveneran mage circle. I suppose I worried for awhile if it would seem too OP or like Mary-Sueish to let myself have non canon characters connect, but I think that showing the effort has been rewarding and that I can earn that world state bit. Villads is also connected to the Sky in my fic but with a dormant connection so there's that as well for precedent
The biggest thing is yet to come, and it's what I'm going to do with Sol Regem. I've considered every option for what feels ic to resolve his stuff with and how to try and make it realistic but not like, horrific, and so I'm satisfied but it bothered me for months (probably like, chapter 38 or 39 we'll see).
So there haven't been total AU versions but I've weighed a lot of it in my mind and come into things. I've had a few major plotting sessions- one around chapter 10 when I realized I didn't want to leave off with Callum going with Aaravos and mage fam, and then another around chapter 20, and before Evenere was fleshed out I had anticipated ending in the 30s but I decided to stay ambitious and let myself spend time there, so the ending has always been there but the journey there has been pushed further and further by chunks of about 10 chapters at a time plotted in detail, always knowing what's coming after
And at this time I do have every chapter mostly mapped to the end, though knowing me it'll be a bit longer than I anticipate
Sometimes I wish I had made Viren get Star rather than Ocean, but hitting the wrong mage with the right arcanum is still funny to me and I think for how my fic has gone it works
I also wish things had been paced a bit differently as sometimes I feel I'm too fast or too slow, but alas, that's what writing a serial is like
Thank you so much for the ask! 💜