Minor Edits: A Queen’s Ambition
I originally wrote ‘A Queen's Ambition’ 5 or 6 years ago now for a creative writing class. In my mind, the story has two canon endings. I originally wrote it with the ending of the Queen causing a distraction for the Assassin to get away. While this did feel like a good ending, it didn't portray the ambition as well. After some editing, the current ending, where the Queen sells out the Assassin to tie up loose ends, came into being, giving a more ruthless portrayal of the Queen. Both feel like the proper ending to this story to me, even if the title matches the current ending a little better.
A massive inspiration for the vibes of the setting was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, particularly the Jarl's hall in Whiterun. I remember first entering that space in the game and feeling the immensity of the room. I really wanted to present somewhere that would emulate the feeling, if exaggerating some bits and pieces. Having a clear image in my head made writing the story a much smoother process. This inspiration also helped to solidify the time period I wanted, as the medieval fantasy vibes fit the story I was going for.
As the story wasn’t originally written for the process of publishing with OCM, there were some changes that came about. The main focus was cleaning up the discussions at the beginning, bringing in more exterior story and worldbuilding as well as better showcasing the characters and their motives. Fortunately, as A Queen’s Ambition is overall a shorter story, the edits were minor and left the heart of the story mostly the same, which I am very happy with.
