I originally planned this as a bloodline-upgrade story, but I realized I kept forgetting that as I wrote, which was pretty awkward. There was also the issue of overpowered children, something most works can hardly avoid. After all, even in the original world, some people started slaughtering their enemies in their teens.
But after all is said and done, I finally managed to bring this work to completion. I killed off everyone who needed killing and gave it a happy ending.
Many of these were issues involving the original books. Old George opened too many plotlines, and I reckon there is basically no hope of seeing them finished in my lifetime. He just kept frantically patching things up, until he could no longer bring it all to a close.
As for the source material, I have read the original books many times, along with The World of Ice and Fire, Blood and Fire, The Mystery Knight, and so on. Compared with the television series, I am actually more familiar with Old George's overall setting and the original books. I also lean more toward avoiding so many inconsistencies.
As for myself, I may be too fond of showing off what I have read. Whether you call it padding or not, all I can do is work to correct it. There was too much I wanted to flesh out, and I could not simply copy the encyclopedia wholesale. Where an apology is due, I really do need to apologize.
But since this is fan fiction, that is also somewhat unavoidable.
Sometimes, using too much of the original material really did amount to padding. Personally, I was also too fond of patching things up. I will watch out for that in the next book, which will be another entirely new story.
Finally, thank