Dream Reunion update
Six chapters (plus the prologue) are done, ten more and the epilogue to go!
I just hope that readers will find the story as interesting and worthwhile as I do. In a sense, this book has the “smallest” stakes of any of the books so far. Sara isn’t trying to find a killer or unravel a mystery, and her life isn’t at immediate risk (unless something changes drastically). Her conflict in “Dream Reunion” is internal, between her desire to help a friend, and the dictates of her conscience.
Unlike “Dream Family,” where Sara’s struggle was also more internal than external, the problem this time doesn’t arise from something done to Sara, but instead from a promise she made to herself at the end of book #5, “Waking Dream.”
After seeing the havoc wreaked by her evil counterpart in that book, Sara swore that she would never use her dreaming ability selfishly; and further, that she would never, under any circumstances, attempt to alter anyone else’s thoughts while inside their dreams.
Her reasons are both ethical (it’s taking away their free will, after all!) and practical (the human mind is impossibly complex, and the possibility of catastrophic unintended consequences from even the most minor and well-meaning attempt to change someone’s thoughts is just too much to risk).
But as “Dream Reunion” progresses, Sara will be faced with challenges to break her oath and do what she’s sworn not to. The final challenge, and the main conflict of the book, will be when she visits the dreams of a college friend whose life is spinning out of control, and who simply can’t or won’t see it no matter how Sara tries to get through to them. Sara will realize that the only way to help this person is inside their dreams. She CAN do it…but at the cost of crossing a line she’s told herself she can never cross.
I personally think that’s a very compelling story, but it is very different than the previous books, and I hope my readers will follow Sara (and me) this time.
The other thing this book is doing, is setting up book #7. Sara and her family will be making some big changes, and I’m sowing the seeds for that and why it’s necessary throughout this book. Hopefully that will all work well, too.
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