AI Snips
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Branching While Keeping Your Voice
- Dan wanted to avoid being pigeonholed as only writing serial-killer stories while staying in a similar supernatural-thriller space.
- He aimed to explore a different psychological focus (schizophrenia) while keeping his overall strange voice.
Premise: Hospitalized, Then Investigating
- Hollow City follows Michael, who starts in a hospital with memory loss and is diagnosed schizophrenic.
- Half the book is treatment and recovery, and the second half is his suspicion some monsters might actually be real.
Turn Internal Doubt Into Drive
- Make internal conflict the engine when external action is limited by setting or situation.
- Use a personal stakes arc (am I crazy?) to create character-driven momentum and later flip to active pursuit.