Many of you have noticed that I haven't been updating for a while. Many of you have expressed a strong desire for new chapters (some gently & kindly, others not.) Rumors have been floating around that I've given up on this book, that Chapter 15 was the last chapter and it's over now, and others think it's on hiatus.
I'll start by addressing those rumors:
No, I've not given up on Requiem for a Love. If I didn't finish it, the fact that it's available for people to read online and doesn't provide closure for the story would haunt me until the day I die. I will finish it. Someday.
No, Chapter 15 was not the end. There are still so many unanswered questions (where has Ryan been all this time, will Ana get justice for her family, and a fan-favorite, what happened to Casper??) I'm planning to make Love approximately as many chapters long as Soldier was, but it'll all depend on how many chapters the story takes to tell.
Yeah, it's kinda on hiatus at this point. First I was busy, then there was a global pandemic, then I bought a house, then school started, and through all of it I have writer's block. But I have a plan!
Step 1: Organize all the random story notes I have on the Requiem series into one place. I finished this one in April!
Step 2: Reread Soldier, mostly to refamiliarize myself with the story (you'd be surprised how easy it is to forget what you've written) but also to find and correct spelling & grammar mistakes AND to gauge reader reaction to the story and flag things I want to address in an eventual upcoming re-write. I started working on this in April and I finished in July!
Step 3: Write the prequel to Requiem for a Soldier. Boy is this fun and yet simultaneously depressing to write. The first 4 chapters of Death of a Dream are out!
Step 4: Write out Ryan's miraculous survival. I've got some of the mechanics of this figured out already, but it's complicated because this boy has BEEN THROUGH IT.
Step 5: Start writing Requiem for a Love again. Hopefully, if all goes according to plan, I'll be able to start writing this book again. But who are we kidding, this is 2020. Nothing is going according to plan. For those of you asking for dates, don't expect this book to be updated before 2021.
So new chapters will get posted... eventually. Don't hold your breath waiting. You'll asphyxiate. For updates on how my Overcome Writer's Block 2020 journey is going, follow my Instagram elle_lawrence
I mentioned writer's block above and here's the deal on that, if you're curious. First off, I kinda burned myself out in the rush to reveal Ryan's continued existence. By Valentine's Day (about a month after the big reveal) I figured I was over it and sat down to write Chapter 16. After staring at a blank screen for I-don't-even-remember-how-long, I began to realize I had a problem. I don't know where the story is going now. Also, I don't know enough about where it's been. You've got Ryan, Joe, their mom, and Ana in a room together and you just know that's a recipe for some first-rate drama. But I don't know enough about the history of the Burke family drama to know who wants to say what when and why. And I haven't fully ironed out all the details of Ryan's miraculous survival because some of it is entangled with his pre-Ana past. Don't read into that too much.
On a positive note, I super love reading the theories you guys left in the comments section. I think every author dreams that one day people will debate over their book.