Hey there,

this Sunday I'll post the ninth part of "The Lokian Way". As it is the last part I have written before coming to TBC and my first serial in general, I thought it is time for a little reflection.

1. Losing readers.
It is a no-brainer. Serials lose readers as they go along. I see it more as a refinement of readers who are really into the story. My target audience. So the reader count of the first three can be pretty much ignored. Parts four to six are more interesting. There the reader count stabilizes around one thousand readers. Was this my target audience? Maybe I was too quick to assume so as seven and eight had both two hundred readers less. Was this due to the normal bleed off or was it due to something I wrote in part six? Sadly commenters tend only to write something when they liked something and not when something was written that turned them away from reading it. That leaves me speculating and maybe a little worrying. Hopefully, I won't grow grey hair over it.

2. Unexpectedly gaining readers.
This was a little surprising to me. There are a few bumps in reader counts. More read part six than part five and the same for part eight and seven. Did those readers simply skip a part? Or are those new readers who popped in to check out the writing mid serial. Were those parts simply refreshed often and this raised the read count?
A mystery I'll probably never solve.

3. Inspired comments
As I hoped I did get some creative feedback about Mercy's (main character) special spells. As comments and as PMs. My take away: apparently I write too tame stuff. *grins* Not that I am very likely to change that. I have to write from the characters point of view and Mercy grew up as a boring goody two shoes. It might take a while for her to break out of the mold.
Still, the creativity is amazing and I even got schooled in my own in-universe logic. (Well done miss Brooke Erickson. Well done.)
While I won't take any suggestion as is it inspired me for some other hijinks Mercy could be up to.

4. The future
As I said in a previous blog post and in my foreword with part nine the prewritten parts end. That means now I have to pump out each part to a schedule on the run. Thankfully I have the overall plot laid out and a few sub-plots ready. But I don't think I can do a schedule with two parts per week. More realistic is a weekly schedule with a fixed release day. Probably Sunday. Keeping up to the schedule will be a challenge. One I am looking forward to.

Story Ideas:
Yes, here are some new story ideas. If you are a writer who tries to not be influenced please stop reading now. As I was previously asked nicely to do here is a disclaimer:
I do not claim copyright for any these story ideas as long as they are included in my blog posts and can be viewed publically!

On the flip side, there is some good news. While I post these mainly to judge which story to write in the future one writer snatched a story idea away.
Please have a look out for crazypagangirl and her take on "9. The Curse Of The Teenage White Girl". (100% chance she will find a better title though XD)

17. How to brother a witch
The brother of a witch mocks her and all women by belittling the difficulties they face when wearing certain things. The witch (sister) challenges him to wear all those for a day. She will cast a greater spell that for one day no matter what he does everyone will think it is normal. For that day the reality is changed. The brother agrees to the dare as he can't back down.
On the said day he wears all the stuff and to explain he tells everyone that he is transgender. Responding to a bully he replies (mockingly) that he will be a sexy she within a month and totally like it. That he/she will be a lesbian but both, men and women will drool after her.
After the day is done both, brother and sister/witch, think the reality will snap back and undo that day. However, the witch messed up.
Not only continues this reality, but the spell tries to make every claim by the brother of that day true. He remembers how he mocked the bully. One month to total girlhood. Can he fight the enchantment or will it take him over?

18. Gatcha (Suggested by my test-reader Aisling)
The main character is obsessed with a particular mobile game. As it is closed down he hears of a beta for the sequel circulating the dark web. After some digging, he gets a copy. One altered by a nefarious entity. Once he starts the app he is sucked into the game!
Not only is he now stuck in a game with collectible companions, but he himself is one. He also has to complete the tutorial. As part of it, he has to fusion two companions of the same grade. But he only has himself and one other companion. Sighing he initiates the fusion as to get it over with. As the fusion starts he recalls a little detail about the game. The main draw to the game was that every companion is a female and now he will be ...

19. All about risk:
Six friends play a game of risk ( the real boardgame) but with a twist. The game is enchanted. Each player can (hidden) assign players and continents and a new body. For each region, they conquer the associated player changes gradually to match the linked body. The only way to undo it is to recapture the region. This game raises the stakes and threatens the friendship of them all as they have to risk it all.

20. Action figures? (Title WIP)
Skipped since I definitely want to write this but want to do it in Morpheus Legacy universe or the superhero universe of Jenny North. Both are closed so who knows when. XD

21. This is why I hate soap operas:
The main character is a normal boy with parents and big sister. Said big sister is totally into a soap opera that was canceled mid-season. One day the sister gets her hands on a genie and wishes herself and her family into the canceled tv show with her in the role of the big sister of the shows main character. The parents become the show's parents. And our story main character becomes the show's main character. A growing up young woman who chases each episode after another man! Our story main character is magically bound to act out all the scenes the tv series dictates. Between scenes, he/she is left to her own devices. Now he/she tries to fight the plot. Will they win?

22. Sole survivor (short)
A pilot of a colony ship wakes up from cryogenic sleep only to find out he is suddenly a woman. The ships' A.I. explains that all other crewmember and colonists were killed in an explosion. As its highest priority is to ensure the success of the future colony it had to resort to drastic measures. The ship carries sperm and eggs of humans to ensure genetic diversity. Now every womb is needed to give birth to the new colonists. Artifical or not. The A.I. reasoned higher chances of success if the pilot was a woman. Therefore she not only changed the pilot but also impregnated her. Our pilot now has the daunting objective to give birth and raise the first generations of the colony.