So, I'm dropping Stormrunner from my book queue. I don't know if I'll ever write it. Certainly not this year.

This is a post I've been working up the will and the words to write for a while now, though the decision behind it is not new. I've had doubts about this book since early 2021 at least. The dozens of hours of research and plotting work I've done since then have only reinforced them. So has the tendency of the publishing industry (and to a degree, Wattpad) to prioritize books about a certain culture written by people outside that culture over anything ownvoices—a dynamic that I am constantly aware of and trying to navigate as best I can. I've tried to do my due diligence with casual rep, extensive research, and sensitivity readers, but there are books that fall outside the reach of even those measures, and one of those books is Stormrunner.

I first got the idea for Stormrunner in fall 2020, about half a year after its prequel novella Dreamcatcher shortlisted and took home an honorable mention in Wattpad's 2020 Open Novella Contest. ONC 2020 was my first time writing something outside the one oldest series I'd been working on for eight years at the time. The idea of tropical Steampunk led me to a setting that wound up taking heavy inspiration from the Indian subcontinent, particularly the state of Kerala. Many sleepless hours were spent researching everything from food to language to climate to customs, and while I'm under no impression the end result was perfect, I'm pretty happy with that little book.

Reader reception for Dreamcatcher was (and continues to be) overwhelmingly positive. Within months, I'd amassed a dozen expressions of interest in a sequel, which I had not initially planned to write. The idea came together little by little as I poked at it: Rav as a badass airship captain uncovering dragon-poaching rings with [spoiler] at his side. (Her name is Aasha. If you know, you know).

The intense complexities of poaching are something I am more familiar with than most people, and remain comfortable writing provided I do my usual truckload of research. But that was never the problem. The problem is that every book has both an external and an internal plot, and here Stormrunner began to migrate out of my wheelhouse again. Rav's family got more involved. So did another queer character, whose experience proved both difficult and plot-relevant. The worldbuilding—one of the most-complimented elements of Dreamcatcher—got bigger and more complex.

The first two of those three things aren't my story to tell. Not when Dreamcatcher ended up falling so close to an identifiable real-world culture. Stormrunner's plot or setting could be restructured to avoid those sticking points, but not without doing Dreamcatcher's legacy and representation an injustice that I'm just not willing to do. In exploring all my options, I eventually realized I could maintain the integrity of either the story or the worldbuilding of a novel-length sequel, but not both. Maybe there's a middle ground somewhere. But I can't see it yet, and I probably don't have the skills to write it yet anyway.

And so I'm shelving Stormrunner indefinitely, likely forever. I still know a lot about Rav's life after the events of Dreamcatcher transpire. I'll still write flash fiction about it, and can answer any questions anyone has. You're also free to imagine any continuation that resonates with you, if you're one of the many people for whom Dreamcatcher has meant something. Hell, go ahead and write it if you want to; I'm fanfiction-friendly and would love to see what other people imagine into the vibrant world that little novella is set in. Especially people who have more claim to some of that world's stories than I do.

In the meantime, I'll be moving on with my writing queue. I'm excited about all the other books on it, which include two more Steampunk novels, a Norse-inspired Dark Fantasy that should satisfy anyone suffering from a shortage of dragons, and the next trilogy I'll be starting when when my current one wraps up. That's one's especially near and dear to me—besides centering two trans characters, it draws on my own family's history and culture, which has roots in Germany, Poland, and Soviet Ukraine, and a long history of displacement, oppression, and resilience that I'm learning about bit by bit as the years go on. I'm not putting a timeline on anything because life is chaotic, but now that I'm not trying to write Stormrunner this year, we'll see how far my yearly wordcount goal gets me ✨

And thank you all for sticking with me as I figure this out. It's a long, complicated journey, and I'm no more perfect than any other human. I hope I'll always be doing the best I can.