Not much I can think of to say, really Hermia and Horatio were drafted into this as side-characters with little to do, but when writing I realised how I could work some of their back story into things. This proves knowing your characters well and knowing where the story is going can be beneficial XD Then again, you should never plan things out too much, because characters can sometimes take over and derail those plans XD (serious business writers say you shouldn’t let that happen – I ignore them)

Just don’t be expecting H&H to get the spotlight for a while yet

There aren’t any clever references or names in this chapter, so no geeky James May facts I’m afraid. I wrote the bulk of it at the weekend, actually, as I’d found it difficult before and skipped ahead (I’m writing #34 at the moment!). The added characterisation for H&H helped inspire me quite a bit! I admit to having some difficulty writing a very feminine group, especially since it’s been focal for two chapters now. Sometimes I worried that Hermia was turning into the love child of Phoenie and Theseus, possessing the first’s power-lust and the second’s cynicism. But then I thought “that’s life, isn’t it?” – people do tend to be a mix of certain elements and personality traits and sometimes it’s something as simple as a lifestyle choice or subculture allegiance that separates them.

The next arc was a lot easier to write, but that’s because it’s based around Veritas and they’re dead easy to write for!