In Dreams Wake

Hey there, just a quick temporary post to let people know what is going on, since it's been over a month since the last story update.

I'm always swamped with different projects, and for most of the past month I've been helping a friend renovate their website, which has taken most of my free time. I hate going so long without posting the story, but I didn't think I would be able to handle both at the same time. We're nearing the end of the update, so once that is all set I should be ready to get back to writing. Updates will hopefully resume around mid-August.

Speaking of the story, I recently got some very helpful feedback from Chtae about some of its shortcomings. Fellow authors will probably understand the feeling of looking at a story for so long that you know there are parts that could be better, but not knowing why something is off or how to fix it, and their advice helped me to break through that block. The changes needed to fix these underlying issues will be quite extensive and will require rewriting big chunks of the first half. Before I get to that I will finish the current draft of the story so that I have all of the pieces on the table to work with and rearrange as needed.

With that in mind, here's the current plan for the story going forward:

Finish writing and posting the story until I reach the end of the first volume.

Make revisions to the whole volume.

Relaunch new version of the story as a separate story, changing this one into a link that points to the new version.

There are a few reasons for this. The biggest reason is so I can be more in line with what attracts follower retention and audience growth on RoyalRoad. I've noticed that consistent weekly updates is what attracts the most readers. I've been posting as I write, so that was never really an option with how slow I write, but with a completed and revised draft I can easily meet that schedule. I was planning on running an ad campaign, but now I want to wait until I have the revised version to do that, so that I can spend most of my effort marketing instead of writing.

As for this current version, I appreciate everyone who has read and has continued to read it! This is essentially a first draft and I greatly appreciate all of the feedback I've gotten on it. Again, I'll still be posting this version of the story until the end. It will be a bit bumpy, but for those of you who don't mind that I hope you continue to enjoy In Dream's Wake!

Until the next update,

Halflite