August 2024 Update

Welcome to August everybody! Can you believe we're already more than halfway through 2024? July was pretty exciting; I got to share a cool piece of guest work, and we got to see the first of my Patreon-exclusive Side Stories! I'm hoping to get Chapter 2 of Tessa's story out sometime this month, and I'm thinking that one Side Story post a month is a reasonable pace. I'm always incredibly cautious about giving myself too much work, so hopefully that pace isn't too agonizing a wait.

A lot of exciting things are happening with Suddenly A Succubus! If I'm doing the math correctly, I believe Book 2 will be wrapping up next month. My outline is currently telling me I have three chapters left, but there's always a chance that things get split up if the pacing demands it. I'm honestly not expecting that to happen, since these last few chapters are going to be pretty packed with excitement, and I know for a fact that Literotica readers love the really long chapters.

I've also started outlining the third book! I can't wait to share it with you all, it's got a lot of really exciting pieces in it. One thing I'm trying to accomplish is to have my books all feel unique, and not simply the same problems recycled over and over again. Book 1 was pretty chill, and mostly about Amara's changing body, while Book 2 had her wrestling with her trauma and trying to stop the cult. The third book has a lot of fresh ideas, and I can't wait to put them to the page.

Lastly, at least as far as Suddenly A Succubus is concerned, I've officially started working on publishing my first book. I've been doing a lot of research about the publication process, and the first step is finalizing the actual manuscript. I've officially partnered with a professional editor, and I'm planning to go through a few rounds of edits to try and polish Book One into its best possible form. I don't have a lot of details at the moment, but as things progress I'll be sharing the timeline with all you lovely readers.

Blood & Chlorophyll has been coming along very nicely. I'm finally digging into some meatier plot pieces, and it's great seeing the world come alive as my characters move through it. One of the great things about this project is how educational it's been. I'm purposely approaching it in a slightly different manner than I am with SaS, and it's been a great learning experience. I'm able to more clearly see my own strengths and weaknesses, and I'm able to experiment with a new type of story. While it can be hard to see this happen in real time, I can tell that I'm growing with the extra experience, and hopefully that extra skill is reflecting in my writing.

I'm also going to be trying some new things here on my Patreon page. In both my stories, but especially in Blood & Chlorophyll, I occasionally need to create background characters for my scenes. I love making the world feel busy and alive, and often that can be accomplished with showing all the different types of people that live in it. Now, sometimes that can be a bit difficult; I'm always worried that these types of characters will feel lifeless or disposable, and that's something I'd like to avoid. With all that in mind, I'd love to start taking inspiration from some of you.

I'm going to start posting ideas, prompts, or maybe polls about different pieces of scenes I'm working on. For example, maybe I need a random shopkeeper for Blood & Chlorophyll, and I ask you all to brainstorm a new character. Not only does this let me focus on the story, but hopefully it will introduces a bigger variety of characters than I might be able to create by myself. The Becoming Monsters universe, specifically, is a beautiful tapestry of contributions from different authors, and I think this spirit of collaboration fits it very well. That being said, I do sometimes need NPC's for Suddenly A Succubus, too. (They just all have to be human, sadly.)

There's always a chance I might find other things to ask about, but I'll be sure to detail my questions in whatever post I make.

Lastly, on the topic of changes here on Patreon, I've added two new tiers of Membership, a $15 and a $25. Anyone at the $15 Tier will get extra voting power in the various prompts I put out, and the $25 is purely for show. These are just extra options in case anyone wants a chance to donate a bit more, and they won't affect anything else. Existing Tiers keep all their same benefits, and nothing will change regarding my own schedule.

I do think quite a bit about what other benefits I might offer through this Patreon, but I'll admit it's a bit of a challenge. As always, I love hearing your thoughts about anything I share here, so please don't be shy about commenting or messaging me.

For my last piece of business, I'd like to share a bit of a communal goal. I'm currently sitting at 42 total Patrons, and whenever I get to 50 (Paid or Free) I'm planning on putting up an Ask Me Anything post. I think it'll a fun activity, and another great way to try and give back to all of you.

Nyx <3