Dreamer's Sanctuary

Chapter 35 of My Brother’s Keeper is up!

I’m currently working on Chapter 40 of this story.  I have fifty chapters planned, so I’m on track to finish it this summer, if not before.  I don’t feel like I’ve hit my “end of story” writing streak quite yet, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Not that I’m particularly looking forward to finishing…  Although it always feels good to finish a story, I’ve really enjoyed writing this one and will miss it when it’s done – so much so, I’m even considering writing a sequel!

Pandaskunk stories aside, I pretty much swore off writing sequels after By My Side. I had actually sworn them off before BMS and made an exception for that one because of how much I loved Nick and Claire in Broken. I have no regrets about writing BMS, but other than that one and my aforementioned Pandaskunk stories, I haven’t had a lot of success with sequels. Many of the ones I started writing or planned to write in the past fizzled out without getting finished. So I’d have to feel pretty confident about an idea before I’d commit to writing another sequel.

I’m not committing to anything at this point, but I’ve had a sequel idea for MBK in my head for months.  It would take place a few years after MBK and focus on Kevin finding love again and possibly rejoining BSB.  I think it would be interesting to write about him navigating a new relationship and trying to return to his old career in his new body.  With that being said, the sequel would be more of a romance than a bromance and focus more on Kevin than Nick or any of the other Boys (although they would all be in it, of course).  If you’d asked me a year ago if I would ever consider writing a Kevin romance novel, my answer would have been, “Probably not.”  But here I am considering it.  Of course, I could feel completely differently by the time I’m actually done with MBK, but right now, I’m reminded of the way I felt as I was nearing the end of Broken and contemplating writing a sequel.  Like Nick at the end of Broken, Kevin has so much life left to live and more of his story to tell.  I would love to be able to show him further along in his journey and tell that story without dragging MBK out longer than it’s meant to be.  But would any of you love to read it?

Here’s your next poll question:  Would you read a sequel to My Brother’s Keeper?

Please feel free to leave a comment on this post and elaborate on your answer.  I genuinely want to know if there’s any interest before I make a decision on what my next story will be.  While I will ultimately follow my heart and write whatever I feel most passionate about when the time comes, I also know how hard it can be to write a novel that no one wants to read.  So if that’s the case, I’d like to know that before I put any more time or energy into planning this sequel idea.  Thanks for sharing your honest opinion!

Happy Presidents’ Day!  I’m coming off a five-day weekend thanks to the holiday today and two snow days last week, which gave me a lot of extra writing time.  My Brother’s Keeper is going well, so I’ll probably post another chapter of that next weekend.  Thanks to everyone who voted in the poll I posted yesterday for reassuring me that you don’t mind reading my medical scenes.  I guess I’ll keep them coming then! 😉  I may have another poll question for you soon, but I’ll wait for a future post for that one.  In the meantime, I always love hearing your opinions, so please don’t hesitate to leave a comment with any thoughts you may have!

As for today’s update, Part 2 of 00Carter Episode 13: A Lost Odyssey is up!  If you read the beginning last week, you might be thinking, “Wow, this is pretty dark for 00Carter!”  And you would be correct.  This is definitely our darkest and most dramatic episode to date.  But don’t worry; it’s not all sad stuff.  We did try to infuse this episode with some comic relief, more of which will be coming up next week!

It’s after midnight, and I couldn’t wait any longer to update the site in honor of Brian’s birthday!  Happy birthday, Brian!  Chapter 34 of My Brother’s Keeper is up.  Brian’s not in this one, but I did start a Brian short story yesterday that I hope to post at some point when it’s finished.

In the meantime, here’s a question for my medical drama-loving readers:  Do you enjoy reading about medical procedures in stories?  By that, I mean do you prefer scenes that “show” a character’s experience undergoing diagnostic tests or treatments in detail, or would you rather they just be “told” about in a brief summary?

Here are a few examples of chapters with the type of scenes I’m talking about.  (Obvious spoiler warning if you haven’t read the stories they’re from.)

My Brother’s Keeper

A Heart That Isn’t Mine

Sick as My Secrets

Curtain Call

(LOL, I just realized three out of four of these links go to Chapter 9 of a story. Apparently Chapter 9 is a big one for medical scenes!)

I obviously enjoy writing stuff like this and put a lot of effort into researching so I can describe it as realistically as I can, but after spending the past week working on an upcoming chapter that’s full of them, I couldn’t help but wonder if these are even the kind of scenes other people enjoy reading.  So here’s a poll.  Please feel free to leave a comment as well if you’d like to add your thoughts.  I would love to hear your opinions!

Thanks, as always, for reading!

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Sorry I didn’t update this weekend, but the 00Carter crew is back with the first part in a brand new episode!

 

Synopsis: While the agents of Himitsu Takana mourn the tragic loss of one of their closest allies, Dr. Rough takes drastic measures to unlock the key to using the alien technology he’s acquired.

 

Part 1 of Episode 13: “A Lost Odyssey” is up!  As with “Mr. Body Beautiful,” this episode is already finished, so you can expect regular updates throughout the next month.  We hope you enjoy the beginning, and we’ll be back next week with Part 2!

There are three kinds of writers: 1) planners, who plan out everything before they write, 2) pantsers, who fly by the seat of their pants and write without planning ahead, and 3) plantsers, who do a combination of both. I am mostly a planner who leaves myself enough wiggle room to perhaps be considered a plantser. No one who knows my writing habits would call me a pantser. And yet, I will admit, the chapter I’m posting today was totally pantsed.

Chapter 33 of My Brother’s Keeper is up, and just to make myself clear: I did not plan this. I sat down in front of my computer on Martin Luther King Day with the beginning line in my head and no idea what to write next. So I went ahead and typed the first line, hoping more words would follow. Then I kept typing, flying by the seat of my pants, and what came out of those pants?

(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)

Read“MBK Update”