Dreamer's Sanctuary

Hello, and Happy Easter! Long time no see. Sorry about that. 2018 has been a difficult year for me so far. First I lost my laptop, then my beloved cat… and if I’m being honest with myself, I also lost my love for the Backstreet Boys. One Backstreet Boy in particular.

When Melissa Schuman made her sexual assault allegations against Nick last fall, I tried to ignore them at first. I wanted to believe that Nick was innocent, that he would never rape a woman, and that, if he did, he would take responsibility for his actions and admit his mistake. When he denied the allegations, I wanted to take his side.

But I couldn’t. You see, I am a woman. That means I must automatically side with other women. I’ve never met Melissa Schuman and don’t know much about her, but she has a vagina, and I have a vagina, so I must assume she’s telling the truth. Regardless of fact or logic, I must believe her. In spite of how many years I’ve followed Nick’s career or how many times I’ve met him, I can’t ignore the allegations against him anymore. I must support his accuser. #MeToo

This makes it difficult to remain a BSB fan. How can I continue to support a group whose most popular member is an accused rapist? How can I continue to write fan fiction about said rapist? I can’t. #TimesUp

Therefore, I’ve decided to make some major changes to Dreamer’s Sanctuary. I’m not going to quit writing fanfic or take down the site, but I am going to get rid of all mentions of Melissa’s rapist and his group. From now on, to show my continued support for Melissa and all women, I will be writing fan fiction about her former girl group, Dream. My old stories are currently being revised to reflect this change, and all new stories will star Melissa and the three other strong, talented women in the group. I hope you’ll enjoy getting to know Melissa, Holly, Ashley, and Diana through my stories.

To quote one of my favorite Dream songs, “That was then; this is now.” Welcome to the new era of Dreamer’s Sanctuary!

 

Edit: April Fool! #IStandWithNickCarter

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone reading this had a great holiday season.  I’ve had a productive Christmas break, writing-wise.  I started not one, but two new novels!  Clearly, I’m still having some trouble figuring out what I want to write next, but at least I’ve narrowed it down to two ideas.  Neither of them are far along enough for me to start posting officially, but I am going to give you a sneak peek of the one I’ve been working on the most lately because it happens to start on New Year’s Eve.  It’s called My Brother’s Keeper, and it’s a Kevin story!  Somehow, in the eighteen years I’ve been writing fanfic, I have never written a novel about Kevin before.  (I can’t count Guilty Roads because he’s been in a coma most of the story.)  But that’s about to change!  Technically, this is a Kevin/Nick story and will be equally balanced between the two of them.  And of course, it’s a drama.  (As if I would ever write something light-hearted and happy – ha!)  I posted the first two chapters for you to check out here.  I will not be posting it on Absolute Chaos or even adding it to my stories page until it’s a little farther along and I know I can continue updating it regularly.  I want to be better at that this time around!

I’m not really a New Year’s resolution kind of person, but last year, I made a resolution to write every day, and I kept it until March.  I’m going to make the same resolution again this year and see if I can keep it going even longer.  My goal is always to be able to update at least weekly, which is why I need to wait until I’ve banked some more chapters to post the new story everywhere.  But so far, it’s going well!  I hope you enjoy the beginning, and I hope to be back soon with more!  Please feel free to leave feedback at the bottom of the chapters if you like what you read.

Thanks, as always, for visiting my site and reading my stories!  Your support is a huge part in what keeps me wanting to write.  I hope 2018 treats all of us well!

Just in time for Halloween, I’m back from the dead!  Sorry for not posting anything in three months.  I kind of knew I would probably want to take a writing hiatus after I finished Sick as My Secrets, but since I finished it so early in the summer, I also thought I might go ahead and start a new story.  Thanks for voting in the poll I put up in July.  I played around with just about all of those ideas at some point over the summer, but didn’t make much progress with any of them, hence my unannounced hiatus.  I still plan to write at least some of them when time and inspiration are on my side (ER crossover for sure; that one’s already in the works), but I’m not working on anything right now.  Knowing how I’ve been the last few years, I probably won’t do much writing until winter break and maybe not until next summer.  But when I’m not working and have that extra time and energy to devote to it… bring it on!

In the meantime, I did start a short story toward the end of summer that I did not finish in time to post before school started again.  Shocker, I know.  The good news is that after not writing anything for two months, I opened it up last night and started working on it again, and I was able to finish it tonight.  This is actually great news for me because the story is kind of timely, and if I didn’t finish it this month, it would have been an epic failure on my part.  So thanks, Christopher Columbus, for the three-day weekend!

The new short is called The Call, and it’s posted in its entirety on the Short Stories page.  I hope you enjoy it!

In all honesty, I probably won’t post anything else for awhile unless this triggers a sudden burst of writing productivity, but I promise I’m not quitting fanfic – just taking a break so I can live my life without feeling guilty all the time for not updating like I did the last two years of writing SAMS.  If I ever decide it’s more than “just a break,” I will let you know.  I won’t just disappear like so many writers do.  Thanks for sticking with me, and again, I hope you like the new story!

What kind of story would you like to see from me next?  I’ve been trying to work on Guilty Roads, but I have all these other ideas bouncing around in my brain and am having trouble committing to any one story (including GR).  I have this problem every time I finish a story I’ve been working on for awhile; I call it “WADD,” or “Writer’s Attention Deficit Disorder.”  The disorder may be imaginary, but the struggle is real.  So, just for fun, I’m looking for reader input.  Maybe knowing your preferences will help push me in a certain direction.

Below are some very vague descriptions of some of the ideas I’ve been considering, and under that is a poll.  Check any that sound like something you’d read.  I can’t promise I’ll go with the majority, but it may help me to know what sounds good to you.  Thanks!

Option #1:  BSB/ER crossover

I’ve wanted to write a crossover with ER for a long time because it’s my all-time favorite TV show (surprise, surprise).  This one would be an old-school fic set in the ’90s and would have a ton of medical drama, obviously.  Most of the focus would be on BSB.

Option #2:  Nick drama/suspense

Nick would be the main character in this one, but the other boys would be in it, too.  Brian and/or Howie (or both) would play an important role.  It would be set in the present.

Option #3:  Kevin/Nick drama

This one would have a lot of angst and bromance.  Kevin and Nick would be the main characters, but AJ would be a strong supporting character, with Brian and Howie in minor roles.  It would be set around 2007-2008.

Option #4:  Brian drama/horror

Brian would be the focus of this one, but all the other guys would be in it a lot, too.  It would be set in the present.

You can choose more than one option.

[socialpoll id=”2449234″]

Thanks for voting!

 

Sadly, this is not an actual story update, but I wanted to let you know I added Sick as My Secrets and Song for the Undead to the eFics page (on the Stories menu).  You can download and read these complete novels on your e-reader, tablet, or similar device.

I hope the next novel I’ll be able to add as an eFic will be Guilty Roads!  I am really trying to get some work done on that story before I start a new one.  It’s slow-going so far, but I am feeling at least somewhat inspired to work on it again.  I know some of you have been waiting (and waiting and waiting…) for a real update on that story for a long time, and I want you to know that I genuinely appreciate your patience and encouragement.

Also, thanks for the feedback on the end of Sick as My Secrets!  It still feels weird to be done with that one.  I’m looking forward to starting something new once I hit my wall with finish Guilty Roads.  I have a few different ideas and can’t decide which to start first, which is why working on Guilty Roads is a good option for now, but eventually I might put up some kind of poll to see what boy/genre you guys want most if I still don’t find myself being pulled in one direction or another.  My point is, despite my flakiness over the past few years, I am definitely still interested in writing more fanfic, so stay tuned for future updates!