In other news, I’m on the last chapter for the sequel!!!! Just the first draft, obviously, but that’s a HUGE step and we’re very much in the home stretch now, guys. 

Some of it turned out exactly like I pictured; some of it changed entirely. But, the core of the story is the same... Jules learning to live her life the way she wants and deserves, learning to accept the affection of the people who love her and return it in kind, learning to fight for the right reasons and value herself. 

This is very much a love story, but it’s also a story about finding herself and coping with the trials life throws at her, learning to live beside them without letting them overwhelm her.

Anyhow, I’m very excited to be able to start sharing this soon. I really am. Today, I’m gonna take my family to go see Star Wars (before someone spoils us for everything) and then I’m gonna try to churn out most of this final chapter. My wonderful friend @paolucci8 is coming to visit me for a few days, so I intend to write the Christmas oneshot after she goes and the Ellie-centric oneshot shortly after that, hopefully before my parents come for a visit. Fitting in editing will be a challenge with my parents here for a few weeks, but I’ll manage. Somehow, lol.

I have good news and I have bad news. The bad news is that we’re chopping one of the sequels. BUT WAIT... the good news is that you’ll still get all of the content that was meant for it.

I was chatting with @dust2dust34, stressing out about the first sequel. It was, quite honestly, the first thing we planned after FiCoN itself. And it hasn’t changed much (until now) since we first talked about it. It was the basis for Jules’ character. But here’s the downside... I wanted it finished, but the closer we got to November the more I realized that I wasn’t looking forward to writing it. There are some heavy things that happen in it and while it would’ve ended on a positive note, it also wouldn’t have been exactly a happy one. It was too much of a downer, both to read and to write, and Bre said to me “You’re doing this for NaNoWriMo. Do you really want to feel like you do right now for a month?” That was a really good point. Bre’s smart. I listen to Bre. And, with the plan what it was, we were also both anticipating some deeply critical and dissatisfied comments. Now, that alone wouldn’t keep me from writing what needs to be written - and the points people might dislike still happen - but it definitely gave me second thoughts on how to package the story. 

People relate to and love Jules. I know that. And by now you all know she has low points and high ones in her life. But ending a story with a lot of low points on barely even ground felt unfair and unrewarding to you guys (and me), even knowing the next story was going to go sky-high wonderful for her.

I will be essentially combining what was originally intended to be two stories. What will this do to my posting timeframe? I don’t know. I’m still writing it (and probably some oneshots I’ll be counting too) for NaNoWriMo, but it’ll likely be longer as well. There’s a lot of ground to cover. I may wind up posting weekly come mid-December until it’s done. I’m still working out the details.

Another upside to this approach - and this is one a lot of people will like, I think - is that it speeds up our writing timeline. You’ll get Ameliam and BookQueen earlier - possibly Ameliam by the end of next year. And we’ll dive into Jules and Ellie’s love stories earlier, too. The more I think about it, the more I think this is the right move. Though, I admit it’s a totally different kind of panic knowing I am gonna have to scrap my outlines and rework my schedule just days before November. But... it’s worth it. 

ANYHOW... 

Also? Most of the things I’ve been coy about because they’re spoilers come out in chapter one... or the prologue. WAY more than I’d thought would get revealed this early. 

And I should add... because of combining two ideas, this story is mostly set in 2039. Don’t worry when it mentions events that’ve happened that you didn’t see in a one-shot. I’ll definitely be covering quite a bit of the mid-2030s in oneshots even after this sequel. But we’ll talk about that more after this sequel is completed and posted... ;-)

So, @dust2dust34​ thinks I should tease some songs off the sequel playlist as we lead up toward it starting to post. I’ll probably put one up most days from now until then. Keep in mind I can’t answer some questions and if you’re exceptionally good at reading between the lines you might pick up a few spoilers. But there are some songs that directly match the story and characters more than others more than others (some are more of an appropriate vibe). And, I’m not doing these in order. But still... should be fun! And I welcome speculation.

ALSO... the sequel is now renamed Tempest (rather than Stormfront) for a variety of reasons. But... yeah Tempest.