This past spring, you followed us as we released weekly chapters of our YA action-adventure, The Last Bloom.
It was a book “written” in an unorthodox manner. Largely dictated from a recovery bed, it read more as a movie script, pushing readers further into the world of Sassy with each heart-pounding turn.
You are expecting the sequel this fall. But what happens when you take your core characters, start again, and put them in a different genre?
That’s the experiment behind The Last Bloom and A Stranger in Town.
The characters, relationships and threads connecting the stories remain, but the storytelling language and style are changing. Adventure gives way to uncertainty. External threats become increasingly psychological. Questions of memory, perception, identity and what we believe to be true begin to drive the story.
This may not work. We understand that.
Readers of The Last Bloom may rebel, especially since they were expecting the continuation of that tale.
But let’s try to ride this story out. It’s an experiment in how much genre shapes the way we understand characters and how differently the same underlying story can feel when viewed through another lens.
Searching Jona concludes Sunday September 6th. The first chapters of A Stranger in Town launch September 13th. Subscribe and follow to see how this twist in writing goes.
Want to catch up before the story takes its next turn? Read The Last Bloom, available in full on our Substack.
Subscribe to receive new chapters, follow the experiment from one genre to the next, and support the work behind these stories. Choose a free or paid subscription below.