Arcadian Dreams (Ch. 1) (Patreon)

That's right, there are three posts this month! One of the benefits of getting settled in to my new place is having more time to write when I'd otherwise be getting interrupted or otherwise thrown off my metaphysical groove. I don't know if I'll be able to get much more than three or four per month, though, but I hope to be a bit more regular in this regard going forward. As a wise man once said, after all, "You gotta be regular if you're gonna be happy." He also said "Do you like lamb, Doc?" But I feel like that particular koan doesn't apply nearly as directly.

Anyway, this is my latest attempt at a multi-chapter work! There were a few issues with previous forays into the format, most of which stemming from the idea that each chapter was more or less a standalone "episode" as opposed to part of a single, cohesive narrative. I also took some time to outline (a good chunk) of the story before beginning the first chapter, so hopefully that forethought makes the process easier.

Truth be told, this is just another way I'm trying to be more like GigglingGoblin, whose writing I would highly recommend if you haven't seen her already. Her Monstrous Ranch and Intrepid Pawns series have so much more impact and heat to them because we're so much more attached to the characters, and that's something I'm trying to go for in this story. As a wise man once said, "You gotta have stakes if you're gonna be invested." Or something like that. It's been a while since I saw The Shining.

I don't want to give away too much of the underlying plot, especially because this is literally the first chapter, but I hope that the twists and turns I've laid out become that much more apparent as things proceed from here! I also hope that I'm able to wean myself off of my love of genies and illusions, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

As always, thank you so much for your support, and I hope you enjoy my stories! Please let me know if there was anything specific you enjoyed. As an author, I thrive off feedback, and I feel like I'll need a lot of it in this series if I'm going to successfully navigate the perils of what's essentially novel-writing.