So, a little peek behind the curtains for you. A lovely review from user Leks Darkmind (if you would prefer not to be named let me know, I will remove it. I would have asked prior to writing this but I also have no idea how RR works because I'm 900 years old apparently) added in terms of criticism that the story is a little bit slow going, which I think is very fair. The more I thought about it, the more I felt like I agreed. When I first started writing - not The Aspect of Fire, just in general - I always wanted to the 'good parts' for lack of a better term, and raced there too quickly. I struggled to find things that would happen other than the big boom boom fun chapters that I'd envisioned while taking a shower, so I made a concerted effort to change that. However, I think that I've went too far in the other direction. I've been writing many chapters where, while things happen, I don't think they have been particularly satisfying. There has been some action - Jieming's fight against Iario for one, but that's both about all that has happened, and Jieming just isn't the protagonist. Wilhelm has done very little, which while intentional, also feels probably kind of bad from the perspective of the reader. He had success in completing the Aspected Halo, but that's also about it. He hasn't really had his chance to shine the way I want him to, the way that books I really love have their protagonists succeed and shine earlier on. In particular I'm thinking of much of Will Wight's writing when I say this: Lindon has success and chances to shine early on in Unsouled despite being (kind of) crippled, and the same goes for Simon in the Traveler's Gate trilogy, sans cripple-ness. Both are, by the way, incredible, and I highly recommend everything Will has ever written (Traveler's Gate is a personal favorite of mine). If you get addicted to Cradle, don't blame me. I'm not the dealer - Will is.

Anyway, maybe I'm overthinking it, maybe it's up to taste, but I think there's definitely truth to the criticism, and I want to remedy that moving forward. So, I'm making this to let you (the ephemeral reader) know that if the pacing of future chapters feels off, bear with me. I'm trying to speed things up and get to a point where action happens without it being a breakneck pace without room to breathe or allow things to develop properly. Swinging too far in the opposite direction is something I'm very conscious of being a potential issue, and I'm trying to avoid it as much as I can while still having parts that are more exciting than Wilhelm's inner musings while training. All I ask is that you give it a few chapters before possibly letting me know, since I expect it to be a little erratic as I find my footing. Or don't, it's a free world, live your life.

At the end of the day, this is all about learning for me. I'm just a college student who thinks this is fun, so any way I can learn to get better is what I'm looking for. If people enjoy it along the way, wonderful, but if not, that's okay too.

Thank you for reading, I really do appreciate it :)