PROTEGE

Hey, look! Dialogue!

It’s been an interesting exercise for me to “sit back” as a writer and let Juan’s visuals tell the story for much of this extended action scene.

There were a couple reasons I wanted to do this: 1) I had originally plotted out a big action scene at the end of Chapt. 5, but as the story developed, it just didn’t work. I hated losing it, but it felt like I had to focus on Trane’s loss before jumping into another fight scene. So I wanted to start this chapter blazing (and give Trane a chance to work out some frustration) and keep the words to a minimum — which, I’m sure some of you patient regular readers have figured out can be a challenge for me.

And 2) much of this chapter is an attempt to capture the tension and uncertainty of this new phase in Trane and Allumette’s relationship. So, expect more silences.