All month long, I’ve been contemplating about the whys behind all my series on Wattpad. So in the continued spirit of NaNoWriMo, let me take you behind the scenes with Mounting Tensions. I remember penning the overview for the previous series, Fortunes, and while the story kept the main shape, it definitely took on a shape of its own. The biggest surprise that Rylan and his companions threw my way was the romance between the technician and Annabelle. I planned on coming back to that world eventually, but the couple provided me an opportunity I couldn’t ignore. With this new series, I’d be able to explore an aspect of their world between the events of Fortunes and the next planned storyline...

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving! November is a magical month. Besides challenging writers to do something incredible, it’s a time to focus on family and our good fortunes. And while hosting Thanksgiving dinner is hectic, it allows me to blend a day of family with my love of cooking. Aside from continuing my NaNoWriMo project, preparing Thanksgiving dinner, writing my Patreon exclusives (Hearth, Strands, and my upcoming Historical Fiction), I’ve kept my focus and finishing my Wattpad stories. With this story, I’m returning to Darren Gilbert’s youth and his Journeys...

As I work on my current project for NaNoWriMo, I’ve been thinking about the importance of the work that never makes it into a published novel or another piece of fiction. Sometimes a single throwaway line in an author’s collection of notes is precisely that, something to help constrain the more extensive work. However, there are other times when those few words spark an entirely new storyline that yearns for exploration. Colonization and its sequel series, Discovery, both sprung from a single line highlighting a point that I would ultimately reference, I never planned on exploring. And if I hadn’t discovered the concept of Flash Fiction, courtesy of this article, these storylines wouldn’t have been explored...

With one Patreon story finished, I split my focus between my NaNoWriMo project and the second piece of flash fiction for November. Unlike Colonization or Discovery, there were no notes for Darren Gilbert. In fact, it was Act of Heroism, a patron exclusive, that gave birth to this grumpy wizard. I remember a deep, unquestionable need to continue telling Darren’s story. With a little of work, I spun a backstory for a world, while important, was underutilized in my writing...

As I worked on a much larger storyline, I created lots of notes bringing more backstory to the larger whole. One of those notes was about a part of the society that became lost as they approached a planet they intended to seed life on. When they entered the planet’s atmosphere the ship’s power stopped reaching its destinations. I’m sure the core of that note stemmed from Paradise, an episode from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s second season. While the episode centers on a planet where technology doesn’t work, the similarities cease there. Unlike those settlers, the survivors of the Novus refuse to remain trapped on the planet...

Ever since I learned about NaNoWriMo, I’ve thrown myself into the month-long exercise. While I write all the time, and that’s the single most crucial piece of advice I can give to budding writers, there is something satisfying about participating in a competition. This year marks only the second year I’ve taken part in this challenge, but I’ve already adjusted my focus from the lessons I learned last year. Instead of throwing all my writing time into the draft, I’ve set aside time to continue my ongoing works in progress, including the exclusive flash fiction for my Patreon feed...

While I managed to get four of my Wattpad published from October 11th through the 24th, the last one slipped past my self imposed deadline. Despite the complications it made for the week leading up to my wedding interesting, I finished the Patreon eclusive stories for October and the latest installment in Transformation. When last we left off, Isaac won his Friendly Wager with his co-pilot, Jasmine...

Phew… the last two weeks of October seemed to vanish. But with the completion of False Trails and Anxiety, I turned my attention to the last piece of flash fiction for October 2020. Unlike previous works of Political Satires, I didn’t look for a particular headline to help craft the narrative. This time, I played off an earlier story, Consequences. With the “headline” in place, I ran to the NYC Midnight list of prompts for 2019. After a blind selection, my Political Satire would occur in a safe room and feature some emergency rations (the original object was a potato, but I decided that it wouldn’t fit). With the headline and skeleton, I dove into my first draft...

The moment I finished the first draft of False Trails, I turned my attention to the second story for October. Without a clear idea of what story I wanted to tell, I headed to NYC Midnight’s challenges from 2019 and searched for a prompt for a Historical Fiction narrative. I stared at the writing prompt, and I leaned back and started thinking about cattle ranches and how I’d weave a wedding dress into the tale. With the story’s skeleton in place, I decided to incorporate some romance into the narrative...

Well, my original plans for getting all my posts published by October 24th fell short. But despite my life not allowing me to comply with that lofty goal, I will have all three flash fiction stories published for October. The first tale for this month is a Fantasy, and I decided to continue with Darren’s adventure from September, Ensnared. While any patron can read this month’s entry without reading Ensnared, you should give it a read as well...

Despite Rylan’s best efforts, Liam pushed the initial aspects of his agenda through the council. After that first piece of legislation, Liam made more arrangements, forcing more of his proposals into law. As the new legislation pumped out of the council, Rylan continued attempting to undo Liam’s work, but the increase in random muggings captures Rylan’s attention. Despite his outrage at Liam’s agenda, Rylan turns away from the council chamber to help curb the uptick in beatings. As he continues to assist the police, Rylan wonders if someone is orchestrating these muggings...

When I first came up with Darren Gilbert, I pictured a grumpy wizard thwarting a random burglary of a shoe store. As I’ve explored Darren’s past I’ve discovered the joys that sprung up in his journey of mastering magic. But I needed to shape this eager student of magic into someone who would eventually storm into the shoe store to replace the boot he’s worn out. And while I have Volodar as Darren’s primary antagonist, if I wanted to fully degrade Darren, I needed to alienate Darren from Maxwell. And while I planted some seeds previously, introducing Wayne has provided me a stronger tool to sour their friendship. During the last installment, Wayne blew up the plans Darren and Maxwell had for their Night Off...

After Dorian got the council to agree with his plan to investigate the missing colonization ship. Once the workers laid the last bolt for the new ship and the council finished selecting the crew, the newly commissioned spacecraft launches to the world their ancestors vanished while attempting to colonize. As the vessel settles into an orbit around the planet, the command crew scans the world below. Neither member of the ship’s crew can make sense of the received data, but they transmit the confusing data back home to discuss the fate of the expedition’s mission...

As my wedding races toward me, my mind keeps getting pulled in about thirty different directions. While I’ve always intended to publish stories on Wattpad monthly, last month, the things I needed to do for that special day kept me from getting any tale published in September. And while those responabilites will continue to grow as the big day continues its march, I fully plan on publishing all five narratives in October. Unlike some of my previously busy months, instead of back loading my posts this time I’m planning on posting each of them over the next two weeks, so I can enjoy my wedding...

Whew! September has been a frantic month. There are a lot of moving parts in my life at the moment and ensuring that everything keeps running smoothly isn’t easy. But with Beginnings and Ensnared finished, I turned to my last piece of flash fiction for the month, a Ghost Story. One of the first ones I wrote was called Journey of Thanks, and out of everything I’ve written, it’s my Dad’s favorite tale. I know that I’ll never be able to recapture that emotional rollercoaster, but there’s a bigger concept in those thousand words that I wanted to explore, and this tale gave me the perfect opportunity...