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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Duncan Haldane" data-source="post: 2369940" data-attributes="member: 514">Hi Keith,I was surprised to enjoy City of Towers.  I've read a lot of FR and DL novels over the years, but had stopped because they had just seemed to become SOOO BAAAAD.So it was a pleasant surprise to really enjoy City of Towers.One things I noticed when I read it which caught me out a few times.  When I studied professional writing at University the lecturer pointed out a little trap that I hadn't thought about before, and one you fell into a few times...When a new scene begins you need to list in passing all who are in the scene, otherwise the reader doesn't know they are there.  I remember a couple of times in new chapters where Pierce would speak, and thinking "I didn't even know he was there!".  In fact, on more than occasion I found myself going back through to the start of the scene, thinking "is .... actually there?".The writer has a picture in their head of the scene when they write it.  The reader can only base their picture on what the writer has written - if someone isn't mention, they aren't there.  It can be as simple as "The four of them enter the room...", and can even be implied by the end of the previous scene - eg "the four of them grasped hands as she completed her teleport spell".I hope I've explained my point,Good work!Duncan Haldane</blockquote>