Talk:A Figure in the Fog/@comment-25975226-20150428030205/@comment-25148755-20150428033801

First off, thanks so much for the in depth review. I really do appreciate anyone who takes the time to read my stuff, even more so if they actually leave some feedback at the end.

Regarding your points: As far as the dialogue goes, I know why you felt that way, as I intentionally wrote the kids as a bit older than they maybe would normally come off. No kid thinks of themselves as a kid...they don't recognize childish thoughts in themselves. I wanted to sort of juxtapose the fact that you have these obviously intelligent, lucid individuals that are capable of logical, rational reasoning that are still able to 1) make dumb mistakes (thinking they could easily repair the runes, the dare to Claire) and 2) that despite all of that intelligence the "adults" still would not believe them about the, admittedly, fantastic events that were taking place.

Regarding the abuse at the beginning; I try to make each of my stories a little different, exploring a slightly different concept of "horror." Child abuse is...ugly. There's not really any other way around it. The fact that you found it difficult to read, to me, means I succeeded in what I set out to do; it should not be easy to read something like that. Believe me when I say I could have taken it a lot farther; just ask Humboldt. As far as the character development, I was basically trying to allow readers an insight into Jamie's mindset, show them exactly how much and why he hates his father. It also sets up a sort of interesting (I think) paradox at the end, where the "bad guys" win...but you still feel kind of good about it, the notion that Jamie's continued existence as a monster might actually be better than his previous life.

Anyway, thanks again so much! I'm glad you liked it.