Forewyrd: It says much about the subject matter and the mindset of the writer when it takes about 4 months to try an encapsulate in a coherent, readable manner a post.
Thus having completed the introduction to The Introduction ……
This will be all about the evolution of the narrative of a projected book. I will try to keep this short and free of the internal drama which should be only the private lot of the writer.

Just to re-cap

Early 2025 
Determined to ‘this time’ write the book which had been nagging me for three or more years I examined all previous efforts, decided the basis was alright and set off breezily (6th Jan 2025)
https://writingwritingandmorewritinginspiteofcomputers.home.blog/2025/01/06/on-outlining-a-new-writing-venture-a-post-with-no-reason-other-than-i-was-having-fun-with-it/
A few days later there was even a justification for my approach, which was strong enough to stand an admission that things had gone wrong with earlier efforts
https://writingwritingandmorewritinginspiteofcomputers.home.blog/2025/01/21/incepto-ne-desistam-a-pantsers-motto/
And even an affirmation 30th March 2025 all was going very well indeed
https://writingwritingandmorewritinginspiteofcomputers.home.blog/2025/03/30/escape-velocity-has-been-achieved-and-craft-holding-another-chapter-in-a-very-irregular-series-about-one-persons-approach-to-writing/ 
And then?
Even the most dedicated of Pantsers should be able to know when the project might have words, lots of them, BUT no soul. That dread sterile time when The Not Knowing What’s Ahead is no longer anything to do with the cheerful abandon to the imagination to find a way out. The characters aren’t speaking and the writer has lost interest or belief in the narrative. 
It happens
Nevertheless the undefinable (and at times downright annoying) urge to continue stayed. Somehow. Somewhen. Somewhere, the book would be written.

There were two solid factors. An established world construction in two other series.The backdrop of a plot, being a young man of nobility is told to marry a young woman of nobility; his problem being the choice is not the one he has been very, very attached to. Which was going to lead to political ramifications.
These two basics would not go away, but the fruition and the expansion?….. No….. Just lots of withering. It seemed there would have to be more attention to plot and less to pantsing, which was very unfamiliar territory for me. But since at least two of the Muses were pestering me, along with my urge to write ‘Something’ yet the characters were just not speaking to me, radical choices had to be made.

Placement and Justification
Even Fantasy and SF books must have some link with reality, something the human reader can relate to and comprehend, otherwise they would be unreadable. Since my usual approach was not firing up my imagination, my next step was to look to History for a basis to work with, a place where the plots could grow. And within Fantasy and SF the military edge is often encountered, there would be a theme I was familiar with. Onwards then.   
Firstly a close look at a War will show there will be more than one cause; social, political, territorial. And all go into the mix, also with little histories of their own, those go back and back. Whenever you get to what you think is The Reason you should be asking ‘But Why That Reason?’ and back you go further. An example follows.

World War I. If you come across any work or any person that gives you just one reason; ditch it straight away. You can find links that go back to the Napoleonic wars and then some. Whereas it would not be wise to take up a large portion of a novel with complex back histories building a back drop which when a locally important event happened the cause and effect would draw in others far and wide. Thus the arranged marriage and what went wrong to impede; that would be the trigger.
Fantasy novels with a few heroic figures can be wonderous if handled by a writer with a skill and an art for Epic Drama, otherwise they can drift into parody, or become, well dull. Having a mix of folk with varying views and roles is one of those challenges. Avoid cliché characters, get the balance between numbers and memorable right, out of that some character’s actions and status will push them onto the central stage, but make sure they are as at least interesting as other characters with less time on page. Oh yes make sure they have a very good reason for being there; without being operatically heroic; what’s going on is not all about them. A few socially minor folks might start off being the pebbles which lead to an avalanche of a war but they should not really be the ones who stop it or change its course. Nothing wrong with seeing how they live through this time though. 
So there it was a template of cause and effect to draw parallels. I had previously these  used analogies twice, but they tended to be conveyances for the central characters to move along their own paths. What was need was to have the events taking on their own life and drawing the characters along. Let that be my guide then, and while doing so consider how other wars evolved. 

Plots and Pantsing

Planning out how a book would go has never worked for me. I tried it years back and used to end up effectively doodling because I could not see that far ahead. Pantsing would still have it’s place. This would be based on the much used and attributed phrase ‘No plan survives first contact with the enemy,’ Whereas battles and short campaigns might go as planned, political strategies have their time, and ambitions go so far. When it comes to to the medium to long term however, the variables and unforeseens have their say. These would take the form of writing at a slower pace, not looking to a target of words, getting to the end of a scene and then stopping to wait for an idea based on the ‘thus far’ to take root, maybe even an ‘Oh yeah. That would work’ and of course one of the characters having their say.
Therefore I have a conflict on the horizon, there are characters in place, there are differing agendas. What happens along the way remains to be seen. Nothing really innovative in long history of writing. I should have thought about it a few books back.   

Making Editing and Continuity Fun or Interesting
Unless you are gifted with the knack of planning out your work in terms of cast and plot there will be times when on reading back ‘thus far’ gaps or bumps in the rationale, continuity, logic and motivations will occur. These might involve, Time, Distance (Five hundred miles in a day- you’d better have some particularly good reason for that accomplishment). Character (why did they go mean or nice just ‘then’. Any previous indications they might?). Agency (How come that outfit is able to do what it did, just ‘then’ and more importantly ‘WHY’ . Just saying or implying all the time they are ‘evil’ or ‘good’ gets old).
I have found in this effort an entertaining and rewarding way is to take an historical research approach. Like this- in the progress of the narrative it seems a good time to have something take place ‘here’, but has currently flimsy evidence for the cause. Well maybe there is something missing from the ‘historical’ record. At this stage I refer back through the narrative, seek out a rational place and enter stronger evidence. This is mildly comparable with writers of histories trawling through historical records, previously overlooked or just uncovered which ‘sheds new light’. The important musts are:

The evidence makes perfect sense.
It fits neatly where it is entered.
The continuity between evidence and ‘event’ is solid.
The link does not contradict anything else going on. (It is recommended the link works in isolation from other threads until the ‘event’ occurs)

Outlook
Therefore with an outline as to what is taking place, against a larger backdrop, and characters set in place there is more confidence about this attempt. Exactly how it will turn out I cannot say. The fact of having only 43,000 + words after fifteen months does not discourage me, because they are built on solid footing. It would seem to me you cannot discard a whole section of 15,000 words with a ‘It can be better’ and strive on undeterred if the narrative was not showing promise and calling me on. Slowly though, a few characters are playing their cards very close to their chests. In my opinion a wise move, for the variables are myriad.

Onward then.