Whenever you ask for something, you need to offer something of proper value. Want food? Bring cash. Want a job? Show them you’re good. Want a $30 video game at Gamestop? Bring $320 worth of games. Apparently.

Me, I’m a writer. All I have are words. But WHICH words should I offer?

Currently, I have four books spinning around my head, and on my Patreon page, I offer people free books when they donate $5 or $10 a month to my art. Obviously, books don’t come out once a month, so when I give them one, it needs to be excellent.

So which of my four ideas would YOU, dear reader, be most likely to support? Vote and tell me WHY in the comments.

Idea 1: Rise

GENRE: Fantasy

STORY: Matt Owen isn’t the best choice to save the world. In fact, he’s the last. He knows nothing of magic or fighting, much less politics. In fact, this isn’t even his world. Matt was a college freshman in Chicago. Now, he’s a poor vagabond in Larlain, where boulders glare at you, fairies steal food, and demons lurk around every corner.

But Matt can’t go back, and his friends are out there somewhere. So he has no choice but to pick up a weapon, learn about “magic,” and escape the warrior widow who wants revenge for her husband’s death. Yet through the trials, the suffering, and the unending exhaustion, Matt may yet find the piece of himself that’s been missing all along, the piece that this world needs to be free.

STATUS: I’ve been working on this since May 2005. Countless revisions, and I still have one more somewhat-major rewrite to do. But after that, it’s just about ready. Some people have already read and enjoyed Rise, so it has a small following, and others are reading right now to fine tune it even more.

Idea 2: Locke Hart

GENRE: Christian Urban Fantasy

STORY: What would you do with ultimate power? Would you hide it like Tina, holding back your dangerous abilities from the world, even though it’s killing you slowly? Would you unleash it like the Dragon, living longer at the cost of countless lives? Or would you control it like Locke Hart, walking the tightrope between death and insanity?

Locke Hart is a Christian urban fantasy that explores the balance between repression and indulgence. All three characters possess supernatural power, but all three have different ideas of how to survive it: suppress it, enjoy it, or use it. Who is in the right, and who will live to have the last laugh?

STATUS: Very early on in this one, but I’ve been working on the world for a while. Only a couple chapters down, but a general idea of where I want to go. Hoping to shape this into its own series down the road, but this book is self-contained. Aims to challenge the Christian market.

Idea 3: Hypocrite

GENRE: Christian Contemporary

STORY: Sarah Willow pretends to be the good, Christian girl. She hosts a women’s small group, volunteers at the church, works with integrity, and does her best to show grace to everyone. But everyone she loves would abandon her if they knew her secret, the truth she begs God to take from her every day.

But then, Sarah meets Beverly “Bevy” McGruff, a woman new to the faith and running away from her past. She, too, has a secret the church won’t tolerate. Together, the two women struggle through their past and their present, seeking an answer to the question a “good” Christian wouldn’t dare to ask: Is grace really enough?

STATUS: Pretty much done. Pumped this out in NaNoWriMo 2016. Needs editing and all that, but the story is pretty much complete. Like Locke Hart, the point is to challenge the Christian community and bring “outsiders” in.

Idea 4: Dodecon

GENRE: Fantasy

STORY: Twelve races, each based on the signs of the Zodiac, usually live in their own worlds, friendly with the others, but separate. But now and again, one member from each races joins together in the Dodecon, the Journey of the Twelve, to travel for a full year, experiencing twelve contrasting cultures.

The fiery Aries. The stalwart Taurus. The shape-shifting Gemini. The nightwalking Cancer. The wild Leo. The intellectual Virgo. The pious Libra. The nomad Scorpio. The adventurous Sagittarius. The patient Capricorn. The independent Aquarius. And the watery Pisces.

There’s no evil wizard to destroy, no world to save, just twelve different people spending every month in a new culture, trying to overcome barriers of race, one person at a time, making way for friendship, and maybe even love.

STATUS: This one’s the farthest from ready. I have three-ish chapters complete, and I’m the least certain on how the story goes at this point. But it’s an idea that’s never left me, one that allows me to be infinitely creative and explore a world and characters more than just a plot, so I thought I’d add it to this list.

So…which would YOU most likely support?

RISE: Portal fantasy I’ve been working on for years with a small following.
LOCKE HART: Christian superhero story.
HYPOCRITE: Near-complete contemporary story of women and the reaches of God’s grace.
DODECON: Fantasy slice-of-life adventure based on the Zodiac.

Tell me in the comments, and please tell me why. Your answers really will affect my decision.

And if any of those ideas inspired you, note that I do plan on writing all of them eventually. Subscribe to my newsletter to see more, or support me on Patreon for as little as $1 a month to help bring these books to life. Oh, and both options get you an e-book to see how I write in the first place.

Looking forward to your replies! Thank you for reading.