Oh hai, wonderful readers.

I hope you're having an awesome weekend. <3

While I'm still buzzing in disbelief over this little story passing 100k reads, I'm definitely starting to solidify some plans with more use of my brain. But I'm having a dilemma, and since whatever celebration is going to happen is for you folks, I figured it would make the most sense to involve you in the discussion.

But before we get into that, I need to explain what plans I'd had for this story and the characters contained here over the past year.

I originally started Mountain for the first Open Novella Contest, and my plan (very very loose plan for my pantsing self) was to have a poly foursome head out for a hike and then meet a creepy guide that they found out was killing and maybe eating people? I hadn't gotten too far.

And then, Marius was actually born. And he was too sexy. Too charming. Too sweet. Too innocent... ugh. I fell in love. And it's really hard to write a horror subplot when you're in love with the dude that is supposed to be a creepy killer. With the exception of the foreboding intro dream sequence (which of course was written when he was still supposed to be some kind of paranormal murderer), there was no indication that he was anything but genuine.

As the reincarnated witch plot took hold and the story took on its own shape, I figured fuck it and just went with it. It was amazing watching these characters evolve and grow and interact and just damn. It became what it is today, and though I'm proud of what I've done here, there has always been this niggling feeling that something is missing.

At the end, I was enlightened a lot by the feedback given by readers, and had a great time (and still do!) discussing your thoughts and feelings on the story. My plan was to rewrite it in third-multi, with rotating chapters of third-limited POV, with even a few Marius chapters. I planned to add a lot more in the middle, when they're all separated in the forest, to make the reunion better. And expand on the steamy scenes that I'd removed previously. After all this, it would be off to the editor and I was going to self-pub it so that any readers here that wanted it in paperback could have it.

And then it's just been sitting there. I had a special draft copy and a spreadsheet with chapter outlines, and everything ready to go! But I never touched it. It just bugged me. It didn't feel right.

When HicksScribbles read this story I had a fangirl shit fit because I love his writing so much he's skilled AF (seriously go over there you won't regret it!) and he gave me some really interesting feedback. Not only did he give me some great constructive criticism, but he also confided that he thought the ending was a bit anticlimactic and that he'd assumed that Marius was evil all along, with ulterior motives.

And I realized what was missing from the story. It was what had been missing from the beginning. My original plan was to write a thriller with dark erotic elements, and it turned into a totally different tale of love and friendship. Which is awesome! But I think that's what's been holding me back from rewriting it. I just couldn't put it together in my head, because it wasn't what I'd originally wanted it to be.

SOooooo, this brings me to my conundrum. I've written an alternate ending in which Marius survives, but reveals that he was using them the whole time to bind the demon to himself and flee the mountain. I'm pretty fucking proud of it, I'm not going to lie. If I want to use it, I'm going to have to rework a lot within the story, but it needs it anyway, so that's okay. I'm actually incredibly excited about the work that needs to be done, because I'm going to get to craft that dark erotic thriller that I'd vaguely imagined all those months ago.

HOWEVER. I know that there are a LOT of you that love this story, this Marius. And I don't want to take it away from you. So what I'm leaning towards doing, is leaving this version exactly how it is, and using it as a baseline template for a different book that will be the 'B side' of this one. That one I'd self pub and whatnot.

So, what's the problem?

Well, if I'm going to self pub the new version, how the fuck am I supposed to do a 100k reads giveaway? What I really wanted to do was surprise a reader with a signed paperback copy of this story, be able to give something cool back because it's an original tale and I have the freedom to do so. But Amazon has all kinds of rules and guidelines about duplicate things, and I feel like self pubbing both would be flirting with danger. And my erotica library on Amazon definitely doesn't want any trouble or a ban!

I toyed with the idea of merging them into one, somehow. I'd do the eBook as the new version, and then have the paperback version have both. Either do something cool like alternate endings and deleted scenes at the back, or if they're different enough maybe even put them both back to back in the same volume. 

And then I thought maybe I could just paperback pub this one through Lulu instead of Amazon, since I'm not planning to market and sell it, I just want it for personal use or for whoever here wanted a paperback copy. Then I wouldn't have to worry about how similar it is to the new version on Amazon (which I do want to market and do a book launch and whatnot). If this is something people are interested in, I'd honestly be happy to format the text and cover to make this happen.

I suppose I just want to make sure that I'm being transparent with you guys. And I'm also really curious about your thoughts on all of this. If you won a Mountain giveaway, what prize would you want? Are you a Marius purist or would you be open to seeing what the darker version of this story could be? (Full disclosure: having him alive and fleeing the mountain at the end will make a sequel very different than the sequel that I didn't even know how to plan because I had no idea what I was doing, lol!)

In any case, I'm exploring all options and one thing is for sure. There will be a paperback copy of a story of mine for one dear reader. I'm just trying to figure out exactly what that's going to be. And I'd really love to hear everyone's thoughts! <3 

Have a lovely rest of your weekend!