stnylan said:
And of course that is the most important battle for Wally to win - not the business with Rensslaer per se, and certainly not the business in the big wide world, but with himself. He needed to take charge, to be prepared to rule and not just reign. He had to decide he wanted to become the Kaiser, and to take the necessary steps (quite literal ones at times) to be seen as the Kaiser. And part of that is giving orders, even to those that, a few months ago, he would have been taken the orders from. No matter how wise or venerable or senior they were than and are now, he is in a position ascendent.
So much of politics is show. Once he starts to be seen to be acting like a Kaiser, a Kaiser he will be - or at the very least, a Kaiser he will much more likely be!
There is a great deal of feedback that I owe to a great many of you, but I wanted to take a moment while I have time to remark upon this! Hopefully I'll get to the rest of the feedback tomorrow, though I've promised to attend to the Guess the Author Challenge (over in the main AAR forum) first (go check it out if you haven't seen the challenge! Great stuff!).
First, many of the comments made by many of the readers touch upon brilliance -- you folks who have been commenting catch the most interesting things, and make the greatest observations. It's really fun to get this kind of feedback as I write!
But, Stnylan, this is one of the best and most cogent comments I've seen from anyone! You hit exactly upon what I wanted to demonstrate in that scene. And, so, you deserve to hear "the rest of the story"!
Most of this subplot was planned, and some of it even WRITTEN, about 2 months ago. I've added and modified it some as time went on... making it better, I hope! But this scene was never in it, until just the other day.
My original outline was very patient... I had Wally going into hiding, Renss doing the busywork on the outside, and eventually Wally would emerge and begin his offensive. The comments made by you and several others made me realize perhaps I was being too patient! So I came up with this scene as the best way to correct the oversight.
That's one of the neat things about this Forum! Not only do we have astute readers who comment and make suggestions, but also the authors can actually RESPOND! You guys help make the story! That's just unreal. But it's magnificent!
I managed to place Renss in his place (as
Avernite observed!), and show that he's not perfect. I figured it would be only natural for him to regard this "child", 60 years his junior, as too young to stand up for himself. He wanted to "protect" him, and, well... He was protecting him too closely for the young man's own good!
But also this was Wally's coming of age -- his realization that he was to be Kaiser of the German people, and that such a position carried with it enormous responsibility. All on his shoulder. But he also realized something more important -- that he was, if not ready, certainly capable of being Kaiser. And he embraced his responsibility.
I really enjoyed writing the scene, and seeing your reactions. And it would never have been there except for your comments!
Thank you!
Rensslaer
p.s. Now for another update!