Rethinking the Monster, Ruminations on “The Clockwork Wolf” (Patreon)

The July story is going to be a little late, but it’s because I realize there are more revisions to do than I thought there would be. When I decided to run “The Clockwork Wolf” and break it up, I wanted to address some issues I’ve had with it. I finally broke down and decided to do was add a sex scene, something my previous drafts lacked. There’s also a lot of dialogue protentional between the characters I left on the table when I wrote this I’ve decided to explore, and a sex scene helps me do that.

Part of my issues with this story comes from how long ago I drafted this, and the themes I want to explore with it now that I’m revisiting it. Previously, Kev’s company ReizTech is an important issue, but it fades after the first two scenes. The stoat talks about money in the second scene, and I wanted to dig into that more and explore the topic. Kev’s role as a capitalist is something I want to touch on more. My political views haven’t drastically changed since I wrote this back in 2015, but the world has. ReizTech is valued at around $250 million in the story, and while I might adjust the numbers, it’s a successful startup in the scope of the story. I would be remiss not to touch on that more. I’m kind of surprised when I revised this story back in 2019 for an anthology submission I didn’t explore that.

There’s also Jon’s motivations for even coming to the party, and his past relationship with Kev, things I never quite dug into enough. There’s also some exposition to cut or at least relocate to later in the story. Plus, I don’t want to give away what’s happening to Kev and Jon too early in the story. The setting is meant to be an important to the story, and it’s not fully utilized in some ways.

So it’s going to take me a few days to tweak this scene and get you part 2 of “The Clockwork Wolf.”