Weekly Update - 8/9/13 (Patreon)

Lots to talk about that those of you not hanging around the Patreon may have missed. Lots of people have asked about writing spinoffs of Quaranteam and while there's some rules that have to be followed for me to give my blessing on them, I think all the rules are reasonable, and so does everyone who's working on them. But people would like to know what I know is coming, so let me just list off a handful of titles that I've at least a chapter or two of, some of which are starting to show up on other sites already and some of which are still going through editing, revisions and all the other stuff that comes with writing:

All of my current/finished Quaranteam titles: Quaranteam Book One, Quaranteam Book Two (ongoing), Quaranteam: Phil's Tale (ongoing), Quaranteam: Piper's Prelude (complete), Quaranteam: McCallister's Madness (complete), Quaranteam: Aisling's Antics (ongoing)

Stuff from other people I've seen that's starting to hit public sites already: Quaranteam: North West, Quaranteam: The Upstart's Knight

Stuff from other people I've seen that's still in development: Quaranteam: Remote Work, Quaranteam: Alternating Uncertainties, Quaranteam: Flyover Country. 

There are a couple of other people who've asked for permission and have sent over their first chapters and are still tinkering with them, and some of them haven't settled on titles yet, so don't consider the above list as exhaustive. 

If you're interested in writing a QT spinoff, feel free to reach out via email, and I'll let you know my small and reasonable list of rules regarding it, and I'll happily glance at first drafts, offer notes and thoughts and make sure you're not straying too far from the general established timeline. Honestly, I'm flattered and awestruck that so many people want to play in my sandbox, and that so many people are bringing such great ideas to the forefront. I sort of knew when I started writing QT that I wasn't going to have time to explore all the corners, so it's nice to see others pick up the baton and run with it in various directions.

There's also been some rare DayJob stuff that I'm allowed to do happening this last week, which I needed to prioritize in order to pick up a little bit of survival cache cash. That said, I should have Breakpoint 12 out tomorrow (as I didn't want to leave people on too much of a cliffhanger after the end of 11) and seeing as we're twelve chapters in, I think I'm also probably going to put out the first three chapters for free over the next few days as the only free sample of the project that I'm ever going to over, much like we did with Brewster's Brood. That'll give people a taste of what they can expect. That'll be out on Saturday, as I work to finish the last few commissions from last month I still owe. (I know, I know, sooner or later, it'll all get evened out, but hey, if I wasn't spinning plates, who would I be?) When I get those commissions out to their commissioners, I'll start rolling out their previous chapters to tier 3s, and hopefully next week, I'll be starting in on this month's commissions, meaning stuff that was tier 3 and up last month will start rolling out to all the rest of the patrons. 

It's looking like 8/15 will have a return to Morgana's Gift although there's still a few days left for tier 4s and up to cast/change their votes. 

I'm also going to do something a little uncharacteristic of me -- this is an advance warning that the next chapter of QT, QT2:14, is going to come with a caution notice at the top of it. Those of you who've been reading my work for a while know I'm never one to shy away from showing some of the harsher and more difficult things in life, but this chapter in particular is already proving challenging to write and will definitely be a tough read. I think it's an important thing to have in the greater context of the story, but I will say in advance none of it is happening to our protagonists, and that best equivalent I can give you for the scene in question is going to be what it was like watching the Twin Towers fall on television on 9/11/01. It's entirely possible that some people just don't want to see that in their stories, so I want to respect people's feelings in dealing with mass trauma, and I'm doing my best to write the story in such a way that if you need to, you can skip reading QT2:14 and just pick up with QT2:15 and get the gist of it without having to read the scene in question. I know I'm being pretty vague, which is intentional, because I don't want to spoil the chapter, but I also recognize this one may be triggering for some people, and I want those folks to have the chance to opt out for a chapter and just come back later if they're worried it's going to evoke something in them that they can't handle. I'm currently targeting that for the end of the month, so that I'll have QT2:15 not long after and the ramifications of QT2:14 will obviously still be ringing in the story, they won't be the only thing in the story. So yeah, not something I want to make a habit of doing, but this one I felt important to give the notice for.

In terms of public releases: 8/5 - QT2:4, 8/12 - MG 15, 8/19 - Silversmith 3, 8/26 - 7 Secrets 6, 9/2 - QT2:5, 9/9 - QTMM 4.

That's where we are. I'll see everyone soon and thanks as always for your support!