Now that Dakota's made the decision to cut this book into two, we have the gift of space! And that means we're looking at re-ramping up emotion on the page that was removed in earlier cuts and sitting with our characters, especially in a deep conversational scene like this between Qays and Nasir. We talk about showing their reactions and interpretations of their reactions and really making their overall relationship dynamic clear. We also talk about payoff and consequences and the general highs and lows of the writing process.

Plus, we compare our motivation styles! Where Lianna needs flashing lights, arcade tickets shooting out at her, and numbers climbing to get that sweet, sweet, dopamine, Dakota...needs to run away to the woods away from her word count? To gaslight herself into thinking she's not writing a book? She's still figuring it  ...