Shallan Rejected Again

I do wonder at reader reaction to these Shallan sequences. Some in the writing group found these scenes too long. They figured it was inevitable that Shallan would end up as Jasnah’s ward, and so spending several chapters with Shallan working overtime to secure the position wasn’t interesting to them.

I admit this is a potential problem with the sequence. However, I felt it important to show both Shallan’s determination and Jasnah’s character with these sequences. I needed to show Shallan working very hard for what she wanted. It also gave me several opportunities to show the contrasting timidity/insolence that makes up how I view Shallan as a character.

Shallan berates the book merchant

The timid nature is a result of the problems in her past (see book two’s flashbacks). I see the moments of flaring passion as being far more “her.”

Shallan’s father has an infamous temper; it’s buried deep within her as well. If she’d been allowed to grow up more naturally, without the oppressive darkness that her family suffered, she would have turned out as a very different person. Still, the person she could become is buried inside her. In my mind, this is one of the big connections between her as a character and Kaladin. It is also part of why both attract a certain type of spren…

Yalb the Sailor

This chapter is Yalb’s time to shine. One of the things I love about the Wheel of Time is Robert Jordan’s use of side characters who sometimes pop in, steal the show, then vanish. I love how they show up now and then in the text.

I’m not sure I can do the same thing here. Robert Jordan had worldbuilding reasons why small characters would get tied to the main characters and keep appearing in their lives again and again. I don’t have those reasons.

Still, writing Yalb, I wanted him to really pop off the page even though he’s only in the book for a few pages in these early scenes. I intend for him to return. In another type of story, he’d be one of the main characters.