Thank you for the feedback. I completely understand the points you're making. I also appreciate the fact that they were made in the manner they were, as compared to some of the rants that were inflicted on this thread "back when" by, um, "displeased readers." LOL
So - some responses. (Warning - the mind of a developer can be A Dark And Scary Place. Proceed at your own risk... LOL)
First, on the "MC" front, when John and I started this, we made a conscious decision that this story was going to be told from two viewpoints - Parker's and Bill's. (And then we actually added Carl's for a while.) So, your comment about Bill feeling like a main character - particularly early on - is actually quite correct and, as I said, was a conscious decision. The earliest part focused somewhat more on Bill. More recent chapters have shifted more to Parker's POV, but you'll eventually see some oscillation back in the other direction. The characters each have their own motivations. If you restrict yourself to telling a story completely from one POV, it can sometimes be hard to bring out the other characters' motivations other than by long, unnatural-feeling expositions. So, this was the path we chose. If it doesn't end up working for you, apologies.
I also understand your "feeling of being trapped." This is, clearly, a direct consequence of the fact that this is a kinetic novel, not a game, so you're being taken along for the ride as we tell the story, and don't have choices in terms of (possibly) "who does what to who." I understand that the fact that this isn't a game has bothered many people, but this was also (obviously) a conscious choice. Given that John and I had never tackled a project anything like this before, we decided that we were going to keep things simpler, and not take on too much at one time. And I'm very glad we did, now that John has been forced to curtail his involvement. Writing is not my strongest suit. At the same time, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and want things to "make sense." (OK, yes, we stretch credibility in a few directions here, but I'm trying not to go completely off the reservation.) In any event, coming up with a single story line that satisfies me is hard enough - if I had 53 different branches to be dealing with right now, I'd probably have walked away in despair. Maybe after I'm done with this, I'll have the courage to attack something more ambitious. We'll see.
Finally, without giving too much away, I'll point out that this story is (hopefully) developing somewhat along the lines of a traditional novel. The first few chapters of any novel, inevitably, deal with "setup." Basically, "who is everybody, and how did we get into this mess." Once that's established, the novel typically shifts into a "ok, so where do things go from there" phase, and eventually to a "aaaaand, how did it all finish up" phase.
There's a famous quote from a Churchill speech:
(
You must be registered to see the links
)
That's kind of where I feel things are right now - as of Chapter 6, most of what I would consider "setup work" is done - we know who all the major players are, their relationships to one another, and something about what's going on in their heads. So, when the dust settles and this is a distanct memory, I think this is around the point where we'd agree that we're pretty much done with the appetizers, and about to dig into some of the meat of the story. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen...
And now, ladies and gentlemen, we've completed our tour. The exit is to your left, through the gift shop. Have a nice day...