Dystopian Fun

 

Image from Pixabay

I love new ideas, wild plans, and elaborate schemes. The details that come along for the ride aren’t as loved, but my enthusiasm can usually handle them. Stories can be that way too. It’s how many of my books ended up (slightly) dystopian by accident. I’m not into Dystopian Fiction, but when there’s people living underground, a shortage of fresh DNA and those kinds of details, it soon pulls you into a dystopian setting!

A while ago, Katherine Blessan started talking about a Dystopian book group, and it all sounded brilliant and a wild scheme, so definitely up my street, never mind the details of needing dystopian books, exclusive content and people to enjoy it with…

Now, several months later and a lot of incredibly hard work on Katherine and Lydia Jenkins as well as others’ part, our book club is ready to roll in a few days! It’s been set up on Reamstories, which looks great as a platform, totally new to me!

My days are filled with my children’s details, schoolwork, cadets, therapist appointments, as well as life’s details like shopping and dog walking. Somehow, the last few months, it all has felt more filling and head space eating than ever before. I have been travelling to the Netherlands a few times as well, to see my parents as my mum has dementia and I want to make the most of the time we have as well as support my dad and my siblings.

Writing has been a struggle, not just because of a lack of time, but more a lack of energy and focus. Maybe because my days feel a little dystopian already? But even so, I was thrilled to be part of the Book club, but worried that I would be a burden, as there are deadlines and dates involved, and as that involves details, a few (cough cough) might have been missed by me…

With just a few days to go, I can tell you that thanks to the others’ kindness and patience, my exclusive story is up, my book is up and I’m working on the rest! And I can’t wait to see how it’s going to grow and be a wonderful thing to be part of! There are great people involved and hopefully, it will serve a rather special group of people, namely readers and lovers of good, clean dystopian fantasy (Good and dystopian in one sentence? I’m sure you’ll know what I mean!).

So I’m grateful to the others and their steadiness in setting up the Faith-Based Dystopian Book page, and for allowing me along for the ride and showing grace and kindness along the way! And as I was working on an exclusive story introducing the sequel to Burrowed, it made me want to write it so badly! So for the New Year, can I work on two novels at the same time? I love my time travelling Viking story, but Burrowed was so much fun to write and the details of Book 2 are floating around my mind! Of course, with my brand new diary, it should be possible, right? And writing about Christ and the Gospel in all its glory, wrapped in daily lives and ordinary characters is a thrilling prospect any time!

Looking back at 2024, are there others who have helped you as a writer this year? And do you have wild and wonderful plans for 2025, as well as notebooks and diaries to support your ideas and soul-stirring prompts?

Maressa Mortimer is Dutch but lives in the beautiful Cotswolds, England with her husband and four (adopted) children. Maressa is a homeschool mum as well as a pastor’s wife, so her writing has to be done in the evening when peace and quiet descend on the house once more. She loves writing Christian fiction, as it’s a great way to explore faith in daily life. Maressa is part of a special Dystopian book group online, which you can find here: https://reamstories.com/faith-based-ya-dystopian/.

Her debut novel, Sapphire Beach, was published in December 2019, and her first self published novel, Walled City, came out in December 2020, followed by Viking Ferry, a novella. Beyond the Hills is the second book in the Elabi Chronicles, and was released in 2021, followed by stand-alone novel Burrowed, released in 2022. The third book in the Elabi Chronicles, Downstream, has just been released. All of Maressa’s books are available from her website, www.vicarioushome.com, Amazon or local bookshops.