Updated memory A couple things jump out right away here and the first is: you are NOT behind. You’ve only had him two weeks and he’s still basically a tiny confused muppet trying to figure out where his family went and why humans keep putting him in furniture cages 😄 The couch part makes sense t
One of the strangest things about writing multiple connected books is realizing certain ideas follow you before you fully understand why.
When I started writing psychological thrillers, I thought I was writing about strategy, power, control, manipulation, long games.
Then somewhere along the way I realized almost every book I was writing was actually about weight.
Not physical weight. Human weight.
Responsibility.
Grief.
Silence.
Secrets.
Carrying things too long.
The cost of control.
The damage caused by avoiding responsibility.
The damage caused by carrying too much of it.
Even the dog training books somehow ended up there eventually 😄
I noticed it first while writing one of the Basement Files stories. There’s a character reviewing archived case material and he slowly realizes the people who disturbed him most were not the loud monsters.
It was the people who kept functioning normally while carrying impossible things internally.
That hit me harder than I expected while writing it because the older I get, the more I think most adults are basically walking around held together by routines, responsibilities, and promises they made years ago.
Some healthy.
Some not.
I didn’t really plan for the books to become connected that way. It just kept happening.
Kind of curious if other writers have noticed recurring themes quietly building underneath everything they create without intentionally planning it.