Top Wing - A New Addition

So ... let's talk

Well, hi there. I'm not exactly sure who's keeping up with this book, but it's been over a year since I published a chapter, so I thought I'd just talk about it. To put it simply, I've been busy with school and I just haven't had the motivation to write more chapters. This is me officially confirming that this book will be on hiatus for I don't know how long, and for that, I'm sorry.

For content's sake, here are two excerpts of the previous storyline for 11 - To The Waters of Big Swirl before it was changed. Yup, Tara and Brody being chased by the pirates on their surfboards wasn't the original idea I had for the story, but I'll let you go ahead and read about it 😗
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'I think ...' she began with much hesitance. 'We get ourselves caught.'
'Wait, what?!' Brody exclaimed, and Tara immediately understood the reason for his answer. Get themselves captured, what kind of idea was that?

'I know it sounds silly,' added Tara. 'And I know we could just surf back to HQ. But every time I'd like to go to the beach, what if Matilda and Captain Dilly again? It'd be like this all over again!'

'I suppose you're right,' replied Brody. 'That would be annoying!'

'So I'll go reveal myself then ...' Tara said. 'Perhaps you should get back to HQ, being captured twice wouldn't be fun.'

'No, I'll be alongside you,' assured Brody. 'I'm not going to just leave you!'

'Thanks Brody, I really appreciate your gesture,' smiled Tara. 'And I'd be given a chance to tell them that this is not really treasure,' Tara held up her necklace. 'I'm sure they'll listen!'

As the jaw lowered, the pirate ship swallowed the two up.
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'And they didn't listen ...'

Tara muttered, looking out the window.

'Sorry, I probably predicted this since it's happened before,' apologised Brody. 'When anything has to do with treasure, they'll never listen, they'll be too focused on getting it!'

'It's fine, besides, I got us here in the first place,' answered Tara. 'I didn't think they'd take our gear!'

'I thought maybe the only thing they'd do was take your necklace and kick us off the ship,' sighed Brody.

'Don't worry, we'll find a way to get out of here!' Tara replied with enthusiasm, and Brody had a look of hopefulness.

'Hm, maybe we should find a way to trick Captain Dilly and Matilda to come down here, and then we escape!' He suggested. 'But how will we do that?'

Tara glanced around the room, wondering if there was anything that could be used to escape.

'This is a troubling situation,' muttered Tara, looking up to the roof.

A reflection of light.
Where was that coming from?
'Brody, how easily will Captain Dilly and Matilda believe you if you only said you had treasure, but didn't show any proof of it?'

Where is Tara going with this? Brody thought. But he decided to trust what she was doing.
'Hm ...' he began. 'They'd probably believe me. Why?'

'My badge!'

'Your ... badge?' Brody asked. 'What about your badge?'

'Our badges are shiny enough to reflect the sunlight,' explained Tara. 'So if we get the right angle, we can aim them up at the latch, and maybe Captain Dilly and Matilda will think we have more treasure!'

'Then, we'll fly out! I'll get our watches and you get your necklace back, then you'll have another opportunity to explain that it's not treasure!' Brody finished. 'Brilliant! Let's do it.'
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So, if you're wondering why I changed it, it's because I was really questioning whether this actually made sense or not and whether their badges are actually that shiny. Both this and the storyline I went with has the same ending with Tara confronting the pirates about her pendant not actually being treasure, and I think it would've been more anti-climatic if the first storyline was the build-up to the ending. With the storyline I went with, I also had the chance to explore more of Tara and Brody's friendship through their interactions compared to the previous one, which didn't originally have the scene where they're at Smashed Rocks Shore discussing how they can tell the pirates that Tara's pendant isn't treasure, a scene I think is important to highlight the contrast with their personalities and how they work to be more open to each other's perspectives.

And now, here is some cut dialogue! I did actually go back and added some of the dialogue I cut back into the chapter, so I'll also include that here.

What I added back in:

She always thought difficult discussions was the best way to truly resolve issues. It was easy enough to do so with her siblings. 'How annoying!' Takao would jokingly remark, which earned him some time to help Oliver and Tara clean up the house.

But with other people she didn't know well? That was a different story.
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To "wing it" is to try and do something without much preparation, she thought, which is just one of the many ways to get yourself into trouble ...

... And what I cut out:

'But, what kind of mindset do you have to have, and how do things still work out?'
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'It's not everyday you get chased by pirates ... more like once a week, at the least.'
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'Surf the wave?!' Tara exclaimed. 'I can't do that Brody! I can barely even balance right!'

'I know you haven't grasped surfing as much as you would've liked,' yelled out Brody. 'And I know your battery ran out, but I want you to know that I believe in you ... you just have to trust yourself.'

'... Okay. I'll try,' replied Tara.

To be honest, I don't exactly remember why this scene was cut. I think the idea I first had was for Tara to surf an incoming wave as her surfboard ran out of battery. That's still in the chapter, but when it happens, Tara instead flies away as her surfboard gets caught up in the wave.

Now, back to the story!

If you remember how I said four chapters would be dedicated to expanding Tara's friendships with the cadets, and you want to know what the next chapter was about ... well, not to get anyone's hopes up, but I may work on it eventually? The summary is that Tara works on earning a new badge with Penny while also working on helping her in a competition. Any guesses for what it might be for?

Also, I might remove the implications of Swift and Tara previously knowing each other (I wasn't very subtle lol). You might be thinking, why am I going back on something that I established? Well, the simple answer to that is that I don't think the storyline I had in mind makes much sense. There have been changes in my chapters before, mainly to update my writing. The most notable change I should note was made a long while ago is that Baddy is less of a jerk to Tara and the cadets in 7 - A Cadet's First Day. It was first written almost three years ago and I'm not sure it would've made a lot of sense for what I imply with their interaction.

Anyways, that's all I have to say. If you do have any questions about the book that you want to ask me, feel free to do so! 🙌

And one last note, thank you for 3k+ reads! It's been three years since I first started writing this book, and I really do appreciate all the support, so thanks again 💙