Raw Chapters of Bitter Secrets
Through June, I'll be posting the raw chapters of Bitter Secrets on Patreon. Bitter Secrets is turning out to be massive. I said that I would document their whole year together. Their first month as a married couple was just as long as Bitter Heat and I still have quite a bit left to do. I wasn't sure if I was going too deep or if the readers would even be interested in the path I've been on, so I decided to share the raw chapters with my patrons to get their take on it. When I say "raw" I mean these chapters are unedited and may be deleted or altered before publication. The patrons are basically serving as beta readers. Whatever common questions they have, I can use to answer in the rewrite or even craft the second half of the story. What I'm showing is what I consider part 1--their first month of marriage, which is 90k words and considered a full length novel. I have the first 7 chapters up. All in all, I'll be posting 13 chapters. They're quite long with most of them coming in at 6-9k words so I'm posting 2 a week, more if possible.
This is the first time I have ever done anything like this. I've always been very private with my work, barely even showing a few sentences before release. The very little I used to show on social media would get a ton of negative feedback with people deciding not to read it based on a few lines. Some even got offended without even knowing the context of what I was sharing, so I stopped. I had no idea how this experience on Patreon would go, but I have to say, I think this has been one of the most humbling and rewarding experiences I've had in years.
Being surrounded by people who are rooting for you and are genuinely invested in what you do is vital. These readers have amazing insight into my work. Their input is phenomenal and their feedback is gold. I love seeing their reactions as each chapter posts. This is something I never get when I publish. People rush through the book and give their overall thoughts instead of talking about scenes and impressions as they go. I think I love that most of all. The theories in the Discord chat have me questioning myself and taking notes. LOL. This experience has breathed new life back into me and my work. I have never had so much fun. Thank you to all my patrons for your enthusiasm and support!
Bitter Secrets Snippet
“Do you want me?” he husked.
“No,” she said through clenched teeth.
“That’s a damn shame.”
The sun highlighted the silver glints in his hair as his mouth traveled along the waistband of her underwear.
“I’ve been thinking about this all day,” he said conversationally as he kissed her inner thigh. “You getting hot and wet for me.”
“You’re dreaming,” she said weakly.
Draft of Bitter Secrets © 2021 Mia Knight