Undead Folk was always, always, always meant to be an experimental novelette. I wanted to play with minimalism, with the idea of presenting something large in a small package, play with the concepts of dystopian ways of life, of socio-economical breakdowns and poverty, with grief... In the beginning, I never intended for this to turn into a series. But I fell in love with the characters and the world and I wanted more of it. So, I wrote more.

Why am I sharing this with you today? Because there are a vast majority of readers who leave reviews on novellas and novelettes with the misunderstanding that the author was too lazy to provide more of the story for them or broke up the story into various parts to make more money. While I get that you can love something and want more of it, I was saddened to have a reviewer think that I had decided on a release of three novellas/novelettes instead of one for the sake of making an extra buck.

It got to me. Shouldn’t have gotten to me. But it did. Perhaps that’s why my fellow authors say it’s not a good idea to read reviews.

I love writing novelettes. I love writing novellas. And I love writing novels. And I’ll continue to publish all three through Strange Wilds Press as long as I am comfortable and happy to do so. And I’ll continue to experiment with stories in those different forms going forward. I’m not writing these for my audience as much as I’m writing them for me. That might not seem like smart business acumen, but when I stop writing for me, I feel like I’ll have lost the spark of what makes me want to do this. I never want that to go out.

So, take that as you will. Readers: I appreciate you and love your support. I don’t expect you to understand my narrative choices or like every book I put out. But I would appreciate that you respect that I make those choices for the art and not exclusively for an extra nickel.

Until next time,

Kat