Ideas for Ways Forward (Patreon)

Hello everyone. I’ve been doing some thinking, and I want to lay this out for you guys. 

I’m aware that a number of the series that I’ve done have been…a bit disappointing lately. Frankly, I think that I probably had my best stuff with Beta-Testers and Porn Note, with not much going on besides that. And that’s not me being down on myself, that’s pretty objective truth. 

Nova Wars ended up going all over the place and kinda-sorta finished, but not with any real closure. It was basically an ‘author says so’ ending, and it was burdened by a vast over-abundance of characters that didn’t get the development that they needed to justify their existence there. It required a lot more focus than it really had, and an actual decision on whether to go full kink or stick to plot, and neither happened. 

The Dice Must Roll had an interesting idea of going into a game world, but it didn’t pull itself together. I kept fumbling through the middle chapters and decided to go full game-break at the end, and again suffered from an ‘author says so’ ending for it. The characters were better this time around, but the story still suffered from that lack of whether or not sexuality should have been a big part of it. I kept dancing around it, and not giving it what it needed. 

Islands of Wet Dreams? That…that is just painful to look back on. That was completely unplanned, completely unfocused, and I had no idea what I was doing with it. I just tried to make something happen, and it didn’t want to work. There’s a reason that’s still mostly unposted, because I feel like it’s honestly not that great. 

And while we’re going through the less than great stuff, lets get to the current one. Vice and Virtue. What is it with me and trying to recapture the success of Beta-Testers? There are other stories to do, and trying to do another one that is all sorts of convoluted and, admittedly, kinda stupid is not helping my case here. The side characters are underdeveloped, the sex-scenes are kinda lacking, and the plot doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. 

That leaves Magick Harvest, Beta-Testers, (most of) Porn Note, and Education in Dominance as the good stuff. It’s not quite a complete fail at the moment, but with half of the series being genuine stinkers, that’s a problem. 

So, what can I do about that?

My main issue is two-fold: a story I become disinterested in, and the constant indecision of sex against plot. 

The first one can be solved a bit by keeping the plot a bit shorter, making sure that the story is told in a more condensed fashion. Less stories that take 12 chapters or more to tell, more that get told in 6-8. I can also do anthologies rather than full-on novellas, which might help things a bit more, as well. 

The second is a bit harder. I keep going wishy-washy about whether to tell a good story that’s plotted out or to make it more sexual. I’m thinking that the best way to deal with that is to alternate between the two, do one story that’s pushing kink, and another that’s milder about it. I don’t know for sure, yet, but it’ll be among my options. 

This has been a long ramble and, if you’re still reading, you’re probably wondering what the point is. Well, here it is. 

I am ceasing Vice and Virtue, and I’m offering options for a new way forward with my stories for the future. I want input from everyone, including people at the bottom of the support ladder, because what choice is made will probably change some of the rewards that come out of Patreon, as well. 

As far as I’ve been able to think, these are the options for my story work from now on. 

Option 1: I continue to offer stories as I have been, but with the limitation that it has to be told in no more than 8 chapters. This will restrict all stories to lasting for two months (less if we hit a funding goal) and means that we have more overall series done over the course of the year. I’m least keen on this idea, because it means that it doesn’t solve some of the other problems, but it’s an idea. 

Option 2: Anthology 1. In this case, an 8-chapter thing, either based on Drac or some other character, and the kinky things that happens to them in a specific world or setting. Or less kinky; could be a half and half thing. Patrons might have input on the kinks for that anthology, might not, but it’d be fairly mono-character focused with less of a strong ‘arc plot’ than usual.

Option 3: Anthology 2. Just fully embrace the kink thing, and have 8 chapters focused around a specific collection of kink done in different ways. The end product would be put out there as an ebook anthology, edited more than the current stuff is, and patrons would receive a free copy. 

Option 4: Weekly Vote (original). There’s a running choice of three different series options, each one put together for patreon specifically. Patrons get to pick which one gets a chapter that week, and if one goes for enough weeks without getting a vote, it’s dropped for something else. Slower, but it means that there’s more variety, potentially. 

Option 5: Weekly Vote (sponsored chapters). Like the above option, except that the patrons would be voting for stories that I’ve been proven to enjoy writing, the sponsored stuff that I put up for cheap when I open for commissions. Same rules apply; if something doesn’t get picked enough weeks running, it’ll drop. 

That’s the extent options I can think of for overall procedure at the moment. Let me know what you guys think. 

And please, please, please let me know if there are any reward ideas that speak to you besides getting free stories. I want to give you guys thanks for supporting me, but there’s only so much I can write at once, heh.